Meant To Be
by DelenaFreak0422
Summary: Elena was five when the Salvatore moved in next door and she became best friends with Stefan but she soon got a crush on the older Salvatore brother throughout the years it becomes more than a crush, she falls in love with him but will he ever see her as more than his little brothers annoying best friend. DELENA. Strong T
1. The Meeting

**AN: New story! I'm so sorry for having a new story with the other ones I have but this is different I have it all planned and I already have to first five chapters written. Here's the ages and birthdays if you care about them…**

**-Elena: Birthday, June of 1993 (I know in the show it's August but I needed it to be June for a reason). She is five in the first chapter but by the end of the story it will be present time and she'll be 20.  
-Damon: Birthday, March of 1991. He's seven in the first chapter but by the end of the story it will be present time and he'll be 22.  
-Stefan: Birthday, October of 1993. He is four turning five in the first chapter but by the end of the story it will be present time and he'll be 20.  
-Jeremy: Birthday, January of 1995. He is three in the first chapter but by the end of the story it will be present time and he'll be 18.  
-Caroline, Bonnie, Lexi, Tyler and Matt are all in the same grade as Stefan and Elena. Alaric, Jenna, Andie, Katherine, Mason, Klaus and Rebekah are all in the same grade as Damon. (Most of these characters won't come along till later on.)  
Elena and Katherine look similar but not identical, they look like cousins maybe.  
**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 1: The Meeting**

**July 7****th**** 1998**

Elena was playing on her swing set in her front yard while her mom watched her baby brother Jeremy playing with some toys on a blanket on the grass when a moving truck drove up next door.

The old neighbors were an old married couple in their 70's and a huge house was just too much so they moved to a retirement home nearby and sold their house. Elena was sad they left they were like another set of grandparents and at age 5 she really didn't get why they had to leave.

Elena was swinging when she noticed a minivan pull up behind the moving truck and to adults come out of the front of the van looking around the same age of her parents. They then moved to the back of the van to help two boys out of the van. One looked the same age of her and the other looked a few years older. The one that looked the same age of her at had short- close to buzz cut- light brown hair and he was around the same height as her. The one that looked a bit older had jet black shaggy/messy ear length hair and was a little taller than her.

Elena got off the swing and ran over to her mother and 3 year old brother. "Mommy! Mommy! Can I go meet the new neighbors?" She asked her mom.

"Oh sweetie, not right now. They just got here and they need to move everything in. In a couple hours okay?" Her mother, Miranda said.

"Okay mommy." She said sadly. She went to go inside to watch some television but before she did she looked back next door and saw the older boy standing on his porch looking at her. She didn't notice it before now but he had the most bright blue eyes. She smiled at him and he smiled back before turning and going into her house.

Later that night after dinner she was watching the movie Toy Story when her mom came into the room. "Hey we are going to go over and welcome the neighbors when your father gets home; you should go wash your hands and brush your hair." She told her and Elena ran up the stairs, she was excited to meet the kids next door. All she had to wait for is her daddy to get home; her dad is a doctor and has long shifts.

After she was down brushing her hair she heard the door open and close and her father's voice speaking to her mother about his day. She ran down the stairs yelling "Daddy!" She jumped into his arms. "I missed you." She says kissing him on the cheek.

"I missed you too, Pumpkin." He said putting her back on the ground. "I heard you are excited about meeting the new kids next door, but I have to change clothes and eat something first so can you wait?"

"Yes daddy." She said sad that she had to wait.

"Why don't you go play with Jeremy?" My mother suggests.

"Okay." She smiled and went into the den to play toys with Jeremy.

About a half an hour later, her parents came and got them. Her mother is carrying Jeremy on her hip, her father is carrying cookies her and her mother made that afternoon and Elena was walking in front of her parents over to the neighbors.

Miranda rang the doorbell and a lady in her 30's with long straight jet black hair and blue eyes just like the older boy answered the door.

"Hello, I'm Miranda. This is my husband Greyson and our kids Jeremy and Elena, we live next door." She smiled.

"Here are some cookies my wife and Elena made today." Greyson said handing over the cookies.

"Thank you so much. I'm Elisabeth." She said taking the cookies. "Please come in." She said inviting them in.

Their house was big and nothing was organized or arranged. There were boxes everywhere. "Sorry about the house, we are still unpacking." Elisabeth said embarrassed.

"Oh that's okay. We understand." Miranda smiled.

"Giuseppe! We have guests." She yelled upstairs. "Sorry he's in the study, he's a business man." She explained.

A man in his 30's came downstairs. "Hello." He smiled.

"This is Miranda and Greyson and their kids Elena and Jeremy." Elisabeth smiled.

"I'm Giuseppe." He said shaking both the adults' hands. "Elena and Jeremy can go in the den; the boys are playing in there while we go in the kitchen and chat." He suggested.

"Okay!" Elena smiled before taking her brothers hand and walking into the room the parents directed her too. When she walked in she found the room was big with a fire place and a big tv and multiple leather couches. She saw the younger boy playing while she saw the older boy sitting on the couch watching a Disney channel sitcom. They both turned to her when they heard the door open.

"Hi! I'm Elena and this is my little brother Jeremy." Elena smiled big. Jeremy waved to them and looked down at his feet shyly.

"He's shy. We live next door." She explained.

"I'm Stefan." Stefan said. "Wanna come play?" She looked at the toy cars he was playing with.

"Yeah sure come on Jeremy." She said tugging shy Jeremy over.

After a few minutes of playing she noticed the other boy hadn't said anything. She stood up leaving Stefan and Jeremy and walked over to the other brother and sat beside him on the couch. "What's your name?" She asked smiling.

"Damon." He answered still watching the t.v.

"How old are you?" She asked.

"Seven."

"I'm five."

"Like my brother, but he's turning five in three months. But he still acts like a baby." He said quiet so only Elena heard him.

"Girls mature faster than boys." She smirked. He didn't say anything or look at her he just kept watching the television, he looked bored. "Whatcha watching?" She asked.

"Just some show." He said watching the t.v.

"You're rude." She said angry that he wasn't talking to her.

He laughed. "You don't even know me." He said.

"Well I'm trying to be nice and talk to you and you're too focused on the t.v."

"I'm just tired and bored, I didn't want to move. I don't like it here."

"Well you have the whole summer to get used to it here before we go back to school." She said trying to cheer him up but it didn't work; he just kept watching the t.v. She went back to her brother and Stefan to play again.

"What's up with your brother; he's cranky." She asked Stefan.

"He can hear you." Damon said calmly from the couch.

"He just doesn't like it here." Stefan said playing with his toys.

"What do you like to do?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Play cars, watch t.v, play video games, play sports and go swimming." Stefan said listing things.

"I like all those things too." Elena smiled.

"Let's be best friends." Stefan suggested.

"Yay!" Elena laughed and they played cars for about an hour before her parents told Jeremy and her that they had to leave and go to bed but they could come back tomorrow.

**Earlier in the kitchen…**

The adults walked into the kitchen. "Would you like anything to drink; we have water, wine, beer, fruit punch, orange juice, soda?" Elisabeth listed off while looking in the fridge while the others sat at the island.

"Water is fine for me please." Miranda smiled.

"I'll take a beer please." Greyson said.

"One for me too, Hun." Giuseppe said.

Elisabeth passed everyone a drink and got herself a glass of wine. "Well what do you two do?" Elisabeth asked after sitting at the island as well.

"I'm an inspiring author slash stay at home mom." Miranda explained.

"I'm a surgeon." Greyson said proudly. "What do you two do?"

"I'm the president of my family company; Salvatore Industries." Giuseppe says proudly.

"Woah, I've heard of that." Miranda said shocked.

"Yeah, yeah. We're the Salvatore's. I'm a high school Art teacher. I just got a job a Mystic Falls High." Elisabeth smiled.

"That's awesome. How old are your boys?" Miranda asked.

"Damon is seven and Stefan is five." Elisabeth answered.

"Aw, Elena is five and Jeremy is three." Miranda smiled.

"Where did you guys move here from?" Greyson asked.

"New York City. That's where the Salvatore Industries headquarters are and we've lived there since we were married but we are opening a new building for SI in Richmond and since Elisabeth's mother grew up here in Mystic Falls and it's only a forty minute commute to Richmond, she wanted to move here." Giuseppe explained.

"Yeah I've seen pictures of my mother growing up here and it looked to be such a beautiful place. My mother left after she finished high school because she never liked the small town vibe, since I grew up in New York City, I wanted a change." Elisabeth giggled.

"Well, we both grew up here, we're high school sweethearts and it really is a magical and beautiful place." Miranda described.

They talked about everything and anything and they all became great friends right away and after an hour Miranda and Greyson knew they had to get the kids home and in bed but they all wanted to hang out again sometime.

**AN: So I know theres a lot of stories out there about childhood friends and growing up together but I wanted to try it out. I have a lot of cool ideas for this and I have it all planned out. I hope you like it. The chapters get longer but the 5th chapter its like 5000 words. Please review if you like it, if not I won't think you like it and I won't continue. :) To Canadians: Happy Thanksgiving which is this weekend in Canada. I'm a proud Canadian. **


	2. A Day of Sorrow

**I don't own anything except the storyline.**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 2: A Day of Sorrow **

**April 16****th**** 2002**

"Stefan and Elena sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g! First comes love. Second comes marriage. Third comes.." Mason Lockwood, the bully didn't get to finish his song to Stefan and me because he was pushed to the ground by Stefan's older brother Damon. Stefan and I were just swinging on the swings at recess seeing who can go the highest when Mason came over and started singing that awful song. Mason picks on Stefan and me all the time because we hang out all the time and we are best friends so he says we are dating even though we are only eight and are just friends. Mason is in Damon's grade and is the school bully he has a new person to pick on every week but for the past three weeks he has been picking on us and Damon who is now eleven, hates it. Mason has a little brother Tyler, who is mean too but not as mean as Mason and he's in our grade. Tyler and Mason's dad is the mayor.

"No one picks on my little brother!" Damon says angrily. "Stop picking on Stefan and Elena." Damon looks up at us; we are now just sitting on the swings and smiles at us. "Stop picking on them or else." He said sternly.

I look behind Damon and see Mrs. Fell mine and Stefan's teacher coming over. "Mrs. Fell is coming over." I said scared to get in trouble because I'm a good girl, and I never get in trouble.

When Mrs. Fell got to them she looked at Mason on the ground and sighed. She looked at me. "Elena what happened here?" She asked because she knows I will tell the truth.

"Um, well…" I really don't want to get Damon in trouble.

"It's okay Elena, just tell the truth." Damon said to me sincerely because he knows that I don't want to get him in trouble.

"Mason was picking on me and Stefan about how we are best friends and he said we were dating and Damon came over and pushed him and told him to stop picking on us." I told her.

The teacher sighed. "Okay than, well Mason you should not be bullying; it is mean and wrong and I want you to go to the principal right now." She said and Mason walked into the school. "And Damon, although you were sticking up for your little brother and friend, you should've told me so you have to go to the office because you pushed him."

"Okay." He mumbled and walked off into the school.

A little while later, I was sitting in class not paying attention to the teacher teaching multiplication which I already know when the secretary came over the intercom.

"Can you please send Elena Gilbert to the office?" The secretary asked.

"Yes, she's on her way." Mrs. Fell said into the intercom.

I get up out of my seat and while I'm walking out of the class I hear a bunch of "owws" coming from my classmates.

I walk the short distance to the office and walk in and see the secretary on the phone, she points to the principal's office and mouths 'go ahead'.

I go in and see Mason and Damon sitting in front of the Principal Forbes, she is the Sheriff's sister in-law and my friend Caroline's aunt.

"Hello, Elena. Sit down." She pointed to the chair next to Damon's.

"Okay." I said smiling at Damon and he smirked. Okay he's in a nice mood today; good to know since you never know with Damon, he's very moody.

"So I just needed to hear the story from you." She smiled at me.

"Okay well, Mason has been bullying Stefan and me for a couple weeks about us being best friends, he keeps telling us everyone that we are dating and Damon came over and pushed him to stick up for us." I said.

"Okay well Damon, you need to know that that isn't okay; if you know about bullying go and tell me or a teacher and we'll deal with it. Tomorrow during recess you have to report to the library to serve recess detention. Mason you will too but for the next four days for your bullying. Mason you have to stay here while I call your parents, Elena and Damon you can both go back to class." She told us.

"Okay." Damon and I walked out of the principal's office.

When we were leaving the main office we ran into Giuseppe with tears in his eyes.

"Dad?" Damon asked concerned.

"Hi, Mr. Salvatore." I said politely.

"Son, Elena. What are you guys doing here?" He asked wiping the tears from his eyes.

"We go to school here." Damon said.

"No I mean what are you doing in the office?" He asked.

"Stefan and I were being picked on, Damon stuck up for me and we had to tell our stories to the principal." I told him.

"Oh okay, well Damon there something I need to tell you." He said still with tears in his eyes. Damon looked concerned. I don't know what's going on and I'm so confused. "Elena why don't you go back to class, I need to talk to Damon alone." Than he led Damon back into the office and I went back to my class.

About ten minutes after I got back to class, Stefan was called down to the office and he didn't return for the rest of the day.

On the walk home with Jeremy I could not understand what was going on. I knew when I got home, that I wanted to go see Stefan and Damon and see what was going on but I knew that it must have been something upsetting for Mr. Salvatore to be crying so I would talk to my parents first.

When we got home, both my mother and father were sitting on the couch both looked very upset. My mother looked like she has been crying.

"What's going on?" I asked concerned.

"Um Elena, Jeremy come here." My father said sadly.

We go and sit between my mother and father. "Um, something happened this morning. Elisabeth, next door was driving to the grocery store.." My mother paused. "And there was an accident." She said in barely a whisper.

"Okay, is she going to be okay?" I asked.

"Sweetie, she passed away." My father said. They started talking about how we have respect for Stefan and Damon right now and not overwhelm them and how we will be attending her funeral in a few days. But I'm not paying much attention, I don't know what to do or think. Elisabeth was like a second mom to me, she was so kind and generous and an amazing person. I feel a tear come down my face and I stand up quickly wiping the tears off my face.

"I'm going up to my room." I say before grabbing my backpack and going up the stairs. I drop my backpack off in my room and brush my hair and teeth in mine and Jeremy's bathroom; it's my afterschool routine.

I go and sit on my bed. I start crying. Elisabeth was so amazing, I'm going to misss her so much. I can't even think about that through because what could Stefan and Damon be going through right now. I can't even imagine how I would feel if my mother passed away. I feel so sad for them, I just have to go see if they are okay. They are family to me.

Then I sneak down the stairs and make sure my parents can't hear me; they are distracted explaining everything to Jeremy who's only six years old. I slowing walk past the living room door and they don't notice me. I sneak out of the front door and walk across the front yard to the Salvatore's.

I knock on the door and Mr. Salvatore opens it. He sighs. "Hi, Elena."

"Mr. Salvatore, I'm so sorry." I say a tear coming out of my eye.

"Stefan is at his grandparents, he wasn't comfortable coming back here tonight." He informs me and it was then when I realized I don't know why I was here. Was I here to console Stefan or Damon?

"Well is Damon here?" I asked.

"Yeah he's in his room." He says opening the door so I can come in.

"Thanks, I just want to go see how he is doing." I say and walk up the stairs to Damon's bedroom which I have never actually been in since he is very private about his room. I knock on the door.

"Go away, Dad!" He says angrily.

"It's me, Elena." I say.

I hear nothing so I slowly open is door and I see a very dark room with a t.v and video games and dark curtains. There were no lights on so I couldn't see much but I saw him lying on his bed with his head in his pillow.

"Damon." I say.

"Go away please." He says calmly trying to make it sound like he wasn't crying but I knew he was; who could blame him.

"Please I just want to talk." I say shyly.

"You hardly even know me Elena." He said sitting up and I went and sat beside him on his bed.

"I know you're upset and I hate to see people upset." I say.

"Well there's nothing you can do about."

"I can be here for you."

"Would if I don't want you here?" He said angrily.

"I'll leave if you look me in the eye and tell me too."

He tries to look in her eyes and say it but he can't so he just looks down to his lap. "She was the only one in this house actually understood me. My dad favorite's Stefan and Stefan is so annoying. My mom always cared for me and made sure I wasn't ignored like I am from my father. She just started to teach me how to cook." He started to cry. I did the brave mood and hugged him. He leaned on me and then started to cry on my shoulder and I kept my arms around him.

We stayed like this for at least twenty minutes. At some point during it I started crying too. Finally his tears stop flowing, and he sniffles. "You will never tell anyone about this." He practically threatened. I look at him and shake my head no. I won't tell anyone, that's just mean. "Promise me?" He asked more sincerely now.

"I promise, I won't tell anyone." I say calmly and sincerely.

"This doesn't change anything, you still don't know me. You're still just my little brother's friend." He said.

"I know and you're still just my best friend's older brother." I say. I left and went home where my parents didn't even notice me gone.

Later that week I attended Elisabeth's funeral with my parents and Jeremy and I helped Stefan get through it. Stefan was horribly upset and sad but it wasn't the same as Damon, Damon was much closer to his mother and although he didn't cry at the funeral I knew how upset he really was and how easily he can put up a good front.

But that day; the day I saw Damon's true side, I realized I really liked Damon like more than a friend and I don't know what it means because he would never like me like that, he sees me as the annoying little girl that follows his brother everywhere. I'm only eight turning nine in two months, why have I already got a crush? And why did it have to be Damon?

**AN: Thank you for all the followers, favourites and reviews! I really love writing this story. This chapter was sad but it had to happen. :( PLEASE REVIEW**


	3. Damon's 14th Birthday

**AN: I loved writing this chapter it was very fun to write I hope you like it. :) **

* * *

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 3: Damon's 14****th**** Birthday**

**March 20****th**** 2005**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Everyone yell when Damon and his buddy Alaric walked into the room carrying a basketball. They were at Alaric's because Alaric was supposed to distract him while we set up the party. I guess there were playing basketball.

"Woah." Damon said seeing everyone here, there was all his family including aunts, uncles, cousins, his grandmother, Stefan and his father, all his friends from school, my parents, Jeremy, and me.

"Happy 14th birthday son!" Giuseppe yelled. It's Damon's fourteenth birthday today, I've known him and Stefan for seven years now, Stefan is my best friend and always will be but I'm also great friends with Bonnie and Caroline who are both in my sixth grade class. Ever since Damon and Stefan moved next door, I've wanted to be friends with Damon but he's so closed off from me; he finds me annoying. Ever since his mom passed away I've started to like him, more and more.

It's been three years since Elisabeth Salvatore past away in a car accident; it's been three years since Damon Salvatore cried on my shoulder and three years since he made me promise to never talk about it again. Damon hardly ever talks to me unless it is to annoy me or to pick on me but for some reason I always want to hang out with him or to talk to him but I'm always so shy.

"Thanks every one for coming." Damon said awkwardly. I don't think he wanted a party. He's been a pretty depressed kid ever since Elisabeth passed away, he isn't that happy. He smirks, and is sarcastic a lot but he's never genuinely happy, who could blame him.

He comes in and starts hugging family members and saying hi to his classmates. Stefan, Jeremy and I were close to the back with my parents. When he got to us, he just said a quick thanks and we said happy birthday and he moved on. Damon and Stefan use to be close but since their mom passed away they have just kind of drifted apart.

Through the day everyone had fun. Giuseppe barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs and there was garden and Caesar salad made by me and my mom. Damon opened his presents; he got lots of different things, including sports balls, video games, a few DVD's and CD's and lots of money.

Now it's night time and most people have left. Jenna- my cousin who's in the same grade as Damon- is staying at my place tonight so we are staying at the Salvatore's until my mom comes and gets us. Damon has his best friend Alaric staying over for the night and we are all watching the Jeepers Creepers marathon in the den. Jenna and Alaric are cuddling one of the two couches since they're dating and I'm stuck between Damon and Stefan on the other couch.

We are right close to the end of the first movie when Damon speaks up. "Anybody want some popcorn and soda? I've seen this movie twice, I don't mind going to get some." He asks.

"Yeah sure." Jenna and I both say.

"Elena come help?" Damon asks me and Stefan looks at him confused. "What I'm gonna need help carrying all the drinks." He shrugs.

"I don't want to miss anything." I complain.

"Come on I'll tell you what happens in the kitchen." He nudges me.

"Fine." I groan and follow him into the kitchen.

Once we got into the kitchen he grabs a bag of popcorn and puts it into the microwave and hits start. He turns to me and smirks. "Okay so really I just want to mess with them and I need your help."

I frown. "How do you want to mess with them?" I asked nervously.

"I want to scare the shit out of them." He smirks.

"Okay but why do you want my help? You could have done this with Alaric and or Stefan and scared me and Jenna?" I ask.

"No I want to see their screams, my dad's at your place and I have the perfect plan."

"Fine what?" I asked.

"Well, unfortunately we won't be able to see their faces but we will be able to hear their screams." He smirks and laughs kind of evilly .

"Okay, creepy." I mumble and smirk.

He explained his whole plan to me and we were ready. We were now standing in the very small laundry closet between the living room and kitchen. I had one small task in huge plan and the rest of the time I just get to sit back and laugh. It has been ten minutes since we left the living room and I'm sure they are going to wonder where we are any minute now. We left the popcorn in the microwave and dropped a can of grape soda on the floor so it looks like we literally disappeared.

"What is taking them so long?" I hear Jenna groan. It's working perfectly. "I'm gonna go see if they need help." She says.

"Okay." I hear Alaric mumble. I look up at Damon's face which is literally inches away from mine our bodies are so close. He smirks knowing everything is going according to plan.

I hear her get up and walk out of the room and down the hall past us in the closet. "Guys? Damon, Elena? Where are you guys?" She says. We hear nothing I'm assuming she's looking for us. After about two minutes I hear her call out for Alaric and Stefan. Damon gets ready knowing he has to move fast.

When we hear Alaric and Stefan walk past us Damon waits about ten seconds before leaving me in the closet. It's kind of scary now being by myself but I know he'll be back in less than a minute; he just has to go to the fuses box outside of the den.

When he gets back about 40 seconds later, he slides into the closet smoothly and calm; I don't know how he does it. "Okay, I set the power to turn off in three minutes. Crawl through this space here," He said pointing to a small passage way, it's an old house there's lots of secret passage ways. Once I'm in the space I hear him whisper, "Just remember what I told you to do."

Crawling through the crawl space took about two minutes, it led me to the pantry in the kitchen and the space I was in was behind shelves so I could barely move. He told me that when I saw the lights go out through the pantry doors that I had to make a bunch of things fall in the pantry and then get out of the pantry and go back to Damon. I must be fast.

I heard them wondering where we could be and then I saw the lights go out. "Oh. My. God. What's going on?" I heard Jenna say scared.

"It's probably nothing." I heard Alaric say.

"Yeah, Damon is probably just messing with us." Stefan said. I then push multiple boxes of Kraft Dinner and different pastas off their shelves.

"What was that?" Jenna said hearing the noise. I'm crawling through the space but I stop half way so they can't see me but I can hear them. I hear the pantry door open. "How did those fall?" Jenna asked freaked.

"It's probably just Damon messing with us." Alaric said.

"There's nobody in here!" Jenna practically yelled. "How can Damon make those fall and get out of the pantry without us seeing him." She was very scared.

"I don't know." Stefan said confused.

I quickly crawl back to Damon and jump at him hugging him. I'm laughing quietly. I pull back. "What now?" I ask.

He smirks. "Shh." He grabbed my hand before leaving the laundry closet. We walk slowly hand and hand to the fuse box outside of the den. He opens it and flips a switch, suddenly all the lights pop on. "Ahhh." I hear Jenna say. Then Damon flips it off and back on and off again. He grabs my hands and pulls me with him up the stairs.

We are sitting at the top of the stairs when we hear them come in the hall. "Where the heck are they? And why does the power keep come on and off?" Jenna asks.

"Come on." Stefan says walking over to the fuse box and opening it. He flips the switch and turns on the power. "There." He smiles.

"So someone has been turning that on and off, and it doesn't freak you out?" Jenna asks.

"It's probably just Damon; he's trying to freak us out." Alaric explained.

"Well how'd he do that in the pantry?" Jenna asked.

"I don't know, maybe that was rats." Stefan wondered.

"Oh please, like you have rats. You're rich!" Jenna said.

I went to look at Damon but he wasn't there. I'm not worried he's probably just doing another prank. After a minute or two he comes back. "Where'd you go?" I whisper.

"Nothing, you'll see." He smirked.

"Guys, if this is Damon doing this all. Where's Elena? We all know she wouldn't be okay with doing this." Alaric says.

I frown. What's that supposed to mean? "Okay, I can't explain it but when you get the chance go to the den and grab the t.v remote then come back here okay?" He asks in a whisper. I nod and he leaves me.

"Yeah, true." Jenna says. "You know what I'm just going to call next door and get the adults to come over and deal with whatever is going on." Jenna moves into the den with Alaric and Stefan following I hear her pick up the phone and gasp.

"What!?" Both Alaric and Stefan asked at the same time.

"The lines dead." So Damon must have went and unplugged the phone line in his dad's study.

I hear the fridge slam and I hear the water in the kitchen start running. Then I hear Jenna, Alaric and Stefan running into the kitchen. This must be it. I run to the den grabbing the remote and I hear Jenna yell, "There's nobody in here, what is going on?" I run back upstairs right around the time Damon got there.

"Did you get it?" He whispers.

"Mhmm." I hand it to him. He smirks but doesn't do anything with it, yet.

"It has to be Damon. I just don't understand how he is doing it." Stefan says flabbergasted.

"The awesomeness of this remote is that it doesn't have to be pointed at the t.v." Damon whispers in my ear. I smile.

He turns the channel on the t.v so that it's some fuzzy screen and turns the volume up very high so that it doesn't matter where you are in the house you can hear it. "Ahhh, what is that?" Jenna shrieks from the kitchen.

"It's the t.v!" Alaric says leaving the kitchen and walking towards the den, the other two following him.

When they got to the den, Stefan went and turned the t.v down by the button on the television. "The remote is gone." Stefan says a little scared.

Damon smirks and hands me the remote with a look saying go ahead. I smile. Before turning the t.v off and on again. "Ahh." Stefan and Jenna both screamed.

"Guys, it's just Damon. He took the remote and now he's messing with us. Hahha Damon. You got us. Now come out." I look at Damon and he shakes his head no. I turned the volume up very high. "Ah!" All of them said.

"Stop that!" Alaric yelled. "It's annoying Damon." I heard him go over and turn it down. I turn it back up smirking! "Urgh!" Alaric screamed. I let out a small laugh.

"I think it time to end this." Damon smirks at me.

"Okay but this was really fun." I smile at him.

We walk down the stairs and into the den calm and collected. "Hey guys." Damon say smirking. I toss the remote on the table and Damon and I sit on the couch.

"Seriously!" Jenna looks at us. "You guys are horrible." She says.

"Now I would like to know why you guys were so sure Elena wouldn't want to help me?" Damon asks them.

"Well, she's just so good and innocent." Jenna explained.

"Hah! I resent that. I was in the pantry." They all gasped. "And I got the remote and I'm the one that was turning the t.v volume up." I explained.

"How were you in the pantry?" Jenna wondered.

"That's a secret." I smirked and looked at Damon who smirked back at me.

"Well you are both very mean; scaring Jenna like that." Alaric said.

"Dude, you were freaked. You were just putting up a good front." Damon laughed.

"I was not." Alaric denied and I start laughing.

"You guys were hilarious." I smiled.

We laughed and talked before Jenna and I had to go home around 11:30. When we got into my room, we changed into our pajamas and we laid down in bed. I turned the lights off.

Jenna and I were facing opposite sides of the bed and I was really tired. "Elena?" I heard Jenna whisper from the other side of my bed.

I turn around. "Yeah?" I asked. We're looking at each other now.

"Do you have a crush on Damon?" She randomly asks me.

"What no!?" I say a little louder than I should have.

"You sure? You can tell me. Just the way you looked at each other tonight. It was cute." She said.

"Okay, maybe I do. I don't know. I don't even know what a crush is." I say frustrated.

"Well, when he smiles at you does your stomach erupt and does it feel like there is little butterflies flying around in there?" She asks.

"You mean smirk. Damon doesn't smile, he smirks." I say. "And yes." I mumble afterwards.

"See, you know him better than anyone." She says.

"Yeah." I smile thinking about him. "I'm tired, let's go to sleep." I fall asleep thinking about Damon Salvatore's famous and wonderful smirk and his gorgeous blue eyes.

**PLEASE READ! - AN: So I've been getting a lot of followers and favourites but not ver many reviews and that makes me sad. Reviews don't talk more than a minute to write and they make me smile so please REVIEW! **


	4. The Summer That Changed My Life

**AN: What this? DelenaFreak0422 is actually updating a story everyday and even maybe twice a day. Shocking! You welcome. :)**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 4: The Summer That Changed My Life **

**August 10****th**** 2007**

I open my eyes and look out my window beside my bed. It looks to be early morning. I check the clock on my bedside table and it was 7:45. I've always been an early riser but today I'm up extra early, probably because I'm anxious. I'm really happy. I smile big and get out of bed.

I go into my bathroom that I share with my brother. I brush my hair and teeth and get into the shower. I take an extra-long shower shaving my legs and armpits. When I get out I see the clock it's ten after eight. I change into jean shorts and a blood red tang top. I go into my bathroom and brush my long brown hair out, and blow dry it. I then plug in my straightener in. I got my straightener for my fourteenth birthday less than two months ago and I now have to straighten my hair every day, it's kind of an obsession.

After twenty minutes of straightening my hair I go into my room grab my diary and pen off of my dresser and walk over to my window seat. I also got my diary for my birthday and have a new obsession with writing in it every morning and night. In the morning, I write about what I hope will happen in the day and at night I write about what actually happens.

I sigh and open my diary.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today is August 10th, finally! I've been waiting since June 15__th__. In teenage time that's a long time! I miss him so much. Damon is coming home from Italy today. *shrieks* He went there to spend time with him fathers extended family. I've already told you this but whatever! Although I can't tell him, I miss him so much it hurt. We've been getting closer ever since his 14__th__ birthday. And ever since he left I've been changing. My mom doesn't know how I went up over a whole cup size in my bras, but I had to buy all new ones. I'm now a C-32 when I was an A-38 before he left. I grow taller and curvier. I'm now 5'6 and I'm only fourteen. Jenna said last night that I could pass for 17. Damon's plane arrives at noon but his dad told Stefan that their probably won't be back till 3pm since Damon's dad is taking him out for lunch as a welcome back thingy, just him and Damon. This is good because I know how much Damon has always felt neglected by him. I plan to go over and ask Stefan to swim in their pool just so Damon can see me in my new bikini. I know, I know. I'm conniving. Devious almost. I never use to be but Damon changes me. He can either be the best thing for me or the worst. Hopefully Stefan wants to hang out since he's been spending a lot of time with this girl Lexi, who moved in down the street a month ago. I haven't spent much time with him lately, but I have to today because Damon's coming back and I need an excuse to be over there. I miss him so much. Hopefully by the end of today he won't just see me as the little annoying girl who followers his brother around and is somewhat a friend to him.  
Love Elena,_

I get up and put my diary in my draw of my bedside table. I see the clock say its quarter after nine. I decide to go have some breakfast. I walk downstairs and into the kitchen.

My dad is reading the newspaper while drinking a cup of coffee. Jeremy is sitting at the island eating a bowl of cereal and my mom is making pancakes. My brother doesn't like pancakes; I mean who doesn't like pancakes?

"Good morning all!" I say cheery with a huge smile on my face.

"You're in a good mood." My mom comments with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess I am." I say.

"Today is the day Damon gets back from Italy right?" My mom asks.

"Yeah it is right, I forgot all about that." I say innocently.

"Mhmm." She says. She can see right through me.

I ate some pancakes and bacon and drank a glass of orange juice. Before going up to my room and I called Caroline. Caroline Forbes is one of my best friends. She and Jenna are the only ones I've told about liking Damon. Bonnie also a good friend but she doesn't get along with Damon so I don't want her to be judgmental about it.

"Hello." She answers.

"Hey!" I say smiling.

"What's up?"

"Oh nothing, I just needed someone to freak out to since Damon's coming home today." I practically yelled to last part.

"I know since you've told me like a million times." She laughed and I smiled.

"I know, I know. But I need to vent to somebody." I smiled.

"Girl, you are gorgeous and you have such an amazing personality. Eventually, he'll see that and you guys will be so cute together!"

"Aww, thanks. Hopefully that doesn't turn into false hope." I say.

"Well I have to go my mom wants to have a girl's day today since it's her day off." She said.

"Okay have fun." I smile before hanging up. Caroline's mom Liz Forbes is the Sheriff and is working all the time so she doesn't get to spend a lot of time with her mom.

I go for a run to have some quiet time. When I get back I lounged around and watched some t.v when it was about 2:00pm I got into my bikini and put a tank top and shorts over top over top of it. I love my bikini, his completely black except on the right boob is a single purple and blue butterfly. I grab a beach towel and put on flip flops and head over to the Salvatore's.

I ring the doorbell on the front door and wait. After two minutes Stefan opens the door. Stefan and I are about the same height since girls grow faster than boys but I'm sure in a few years he'll be taller than me. Damon's already 5'9 and is only 16.

"Hey, Elena." He smiles. He sees my towel and frowns slightly. "You want to go swimming?" He asks.

"Yeah, I thought we could hang out in the pool. It feels like we're kind of drifting apart." I say with hesitation.

"Well, Lexi's here. I know you guys don't get along for some reason." He said awkwardly.

"Oh no. I just don't know her very well. So why don't we all hang out?" I asked because I need to be here.

"Okay, come on in." Stefan said and I walked into the living room/den to find Lexi lying on one of the couches while a movie was on pause. "Lexi and I were just watching that new thriller 'Hide and Seek' with Dakota Fanning." Stefan explained.

"Yeah it's getting to a really good part." Lexi smiled.

"Well why don't we finish it later, it's really nice out and it probably won't be for long; I heard it was going to rain." I frowned.

"Oh okay. I'll go get my bathing suit. Be back in ten minutes." Lexi said with a smile and left.

"So, you and Lexi are getting along…" I trailed off trying to dish for details, hey maybe Lexi will be Stefan's first girlfriend.

"Yeah.." He said.

"Well do you like her?" I smiled.

"Why are you jealous?" Stefan smirked.

"No! Why would I be jealous?" Really I do not like Stefan. He's like my brother. Hopefully he doesn't like me.

"I don't know, just you come over here wanting to hang out and then when I tell you Lexi's here you insist to hang out with us."

"Stefan, you're my friend and I love you as a friend. I missed hanging out with you but I would be happy if you were happy with Lexi.

"Well I have to go change into my swim trunks you okay down here?" He asks.

"Yup." I sit down on the couch and wait. I wish I could make Damon jealous, but I couldn't do it just anyway; Damon is kind of the reverse than other guys are. I can't flirt with someone and make Damon jealous, since he's not even interested in me yet. Step one; make Damon interested. Step two; make Damon jealous but how?

"Hey." I hear Lexi say from behind me.

"Oh hey." She walks into the living room and sits beside me. She's wearing a zebra print bikini with a pink slightly see through cover up and she's carrying her towel.

"Stefan changing?"

"Mhmm." I answer.

"So, do you like Stefan?" She asks.

"NO! Stefan basically asked the same thing. He's my best friend, he's like a brother." I answer.

"Oh well, I haven't met Damon. He's 16 right?" I nod. "Is he cute?" She asks.

"Every girl in this town between the ages of 12 and 18 thinks he's gorgeous." I answer with a smirk. But she better stick with Stefan, Damon's mine.

"Oh well Stefan says in flirts with like every girl." She says.

"Yup and makes out with and sleeps with them."

"Well can you keep a secret?" She asks.

"Yeah." I gulped she better not be going after Damon.

"I'm going to flirt with Damon to make Stefan jealous." She's a genius.

"Oh, well I'm sure it'll work." I say.

"What will work?" I hear Stefan come into the room with a towel over his shoulder; he's shirtless with blue swim trunks. He is still really scrawny not like Damon, who lefts weights and has lots of muscles.

"Oh nothing." I lie. "Let's go to the pool."

"Sorry, I took so long; Damon called from his cell and said they are about half way home and will be home in 20 minutes probably." Stefan said.

I had to will myself not to smile. I had the perfect plan. I joined Stefan and Lexi in the in ground pool after I took off my tank top and shorts and put my hair in a high pony tale. Lexi had also taken off her cover up.

We were just chilling and playing a game of 'Would You Rather'. I have an amazing plan. Since flirting with someone else to make Damon jealous won't work on Damon. I'm going to ask Damon in private to flirt with me to make Stefan jealous and hopefully it'll make Damon jealous. But while he's flirting with me he'll end being interested in me and then jealous because he'll think I like Stefan. How devious am I? I feel kind of bad, but I have too.

"Okay Elena, would you rather go on a date with Finn Mikaelson? Or only eat ketchup for a week?" Stefan asks.

"Gross, Finn's like old. And you know how much I hate ketchup." Finn Mikaelson is the oldest of six children in the Mikaelson family and he's like 20, he's not that attractive and is kind of creepy. There's Finn, Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah are twins, Kol and Henry. Elijah's 18, Klaus and Rebekah are Damon's age; 16, Kol's our age 14, and Henry's 12. One girl and five boys, I feel kind of bad for Rebekah even though she's a bitch. And I've never liked Ketchup. "Um I guess the date with Finn, since that's only one night." I say disgusted.

"Really, you would go out with Finn Mikaelson. You surprise me every day Elena." I hear a very familiar voice coming from the patio behind us.

We all turning around to see Damon standing there with a smirk on his face.

**Damon's POV**

We just left the restaurant in Richmond and are heading home. I'm glad to be home finally. In forty minutes while be back in Mystic Falls, my home town. We moved there when I was seven and although I hated it there when we first moved there, I actually like it now. Of course when I graduate high school I want to leave for school then travel the world but after all that I can really see myself growing old in Mystic Falls maybe build a family.

I've been living in Italy for the past two months to get to know my dad's side of the family and I loved it. My dad's mother is named Rosa and she moved to New York City as a teenager from Italy and she meet my grandfather who was just starting the Salvatore Company at the time, they fall in lust per say and got married and had my dad. But after a few years they realized they just weren't compatible and got a divorce. When my father was 18 my Nonna moved back to Italy. Nonna Rosa has 10 brothers and sisters, and they all have huge families and grandkids and the whole family lives on Winery in a huge mansion just outside of Rome. I had the time of my life there.

Although it was awesome in Italy, I'm really happy being back. I can't wait to get back to Mystic Falls. I miss all my friends especially Rick. I miss American girls her can actually speak English. When I first found out I was going to Italy I was like 'Sweet, Italian babes!' but after a while of them not understanding me and of me not understanding them; it got really annoying but they were great at other stuff. I smirk at the thought. I miss my baby brother and even kind of miss Elena; my brothers annoying little friend, although sometimes she's not annoying and can be fun to hang out with. Like that time at my fourteenth birthday when we made Jenna, Ric and Stefan scared shitless. I laugh slightly at the memory.

"Hey we about twenty minutes away mind calling home and telling Stefan where we are?" My dad asks.

"Sure." I dial home on my flip phone. And Stefan picks up.

"Hello."

"Hey, it's me Damon."

"Hey. I missed you brother." Stefan said probably with a smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. Miss you too." I mumble. "We'll be home in 20." I say.

"Okay, well I'll be in the pool with Elena and a new girl Lexi when you get home." He informs me.

"Oh okay, bye." I hang up before I let my brother answer.

After about 15 minutes we arrive at home. I smile. It's good to be home. I walk into the house and drop my bags by the front door I hear a girl laughing from the pool, that's not Elena's laugh; it must be the new girl.

"I have to go deal with something for work in my office. Tell Stefan I said hi." My dad tells me before heading up the stairs. I make my way through the house to the kitchen which leads to the patio which leads to the pool.

When I step out onto the patio and just look into the pool I see a girl who looks about 14 with blonde hair down to her waste giggling about something floating beside Stefan then I see Elena across from them. Man has she grown. She's taller, curvier and definitely more mature and I can only see the back of her. None of them can see me so I just stand there watching.

"Okay Elena, would you rather go on a date with Finn Mikaelson? Or only eat ketchup for a week?" Stefan asks.

"Gross, Finn's like old. And you know how much I hate ketchup." Elena complains but giggles at the same time. She sounds different. After a little bit of thinking Elena finally answers. "Um I guess the date with Finn, since that's only one night."

I smirk. "Really, you would go out with Finn Mikaelson. You surprise me every day Elena." I say casually with a smirk on my face.

They all turn around but the only one I'm looking at is Elena. Her chest, oh. my. god. When did this happen? She's sexy and hot and sexy and gorgeous. I look at Stefan really fast trying to control myself.

"Damon! It's great to see you." Stefan says excited.

"Yeah, welcome back Damon." Elena says maturely and coolly. I look over at her and I see her smiling. God, why is this the first time I'm realizing her smile is the most beautiful thing in the world, her body coming in a close second.

"It's awesome to be back." I say trying to control myself. 'Lexi' is good looking for her age but Elena is downright gorgeous, if I didn't know who she was I would think she was 16 or 17.

"Damon. Why don't join us?" Elena smiles at me.

"Ahh, I don't know. I'm a little jet leg, I was just gonna relax and unpack." I look at Lexi. "I'm Damon by the way." I say politely.

"I've heard about you." She giggled, for whom?

"Come on Damon. Just for a little while? You can relax later." Stefan groaned. "Now we have enough players to play water volleyball." Stefan said.

"Fine!" I groaned before heading into the house to change. I stopped right outside the door and turned around. "Only if Elena's on my team." I winked and she smirked and I headed into the house.

They probably thought I said that cause Elena is an amazing volleyball player but that's not the full reason. Get control of yourself Salvatore. You've known her for more than half of your life; she's like a sister to you. I thought to myself. Our families are best friends. I cannot have the hots for Elena Gilbert. I just can't. I groan once I get into my room. I sit on my bed and put my head in my hands. URGH! I quickly change into my swim trunks before grabbing a long towel and heading backdoor stairs.

When I walk into the kitchen I freeze. Elena standing outside to fridge grabbing a grape soda in her bikini. It looks like she quickly dried off her bodied and she hadn't got her hair wet so she's not dripping wet but she is wet. And sexy. God is she sexy.

"Hey." She smiles at me. She's acting so grown up. "How was your trip?"

"Great! Italy was amazing. And beautiful." I answer.

"Damon, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?" She said shyly.

"Depends." I say suspiciously and I narrow my eyes.

"Okay, so here it goes. Stefan likes Lexi. And I'm kind of jealous of it." She mumbles the last part but I still made it out.

"And what do you want me to do?" I ask truly not knowing where this was going.

"Could you help me make Stefan jealous?" She wants me to what? Help her make Stefan jealous but how?

"How am I supposed to that?"

"You know; flirt with me, tickle me. Just act like I'm a girl that you're actually interested in and do you thing." She stares me in the eye. "Please for me." She pouts.

"Fine." It won't be that hard since I am interested in her.

"Thank you!" She squealed as she jumps up and hugs me so that I'm lifting her off the ground. Her arms around my neck and my arms around the small of her back. I quickly let go and gently drop her on the ground.

"Okay. Let's go." I say and follow her out to the pool where Stefan and Lexi are just floating.

"What took you guys so long?" Stefan asked.

"Oh we were just catching up." I smirk before lifting Elena over my shoulder.

"Holy, crap! Damon put me down." She squealed and giggled.

"Okay." I shrug and throw her into the deep end of the pool. She emerges seconds later and puts her arms over her chest.

"I can't believe you just did that." She frowned and then burst out laughing. "That was fun." She smiled. I love that smile.

I hop into the pool and swim over to Elena. "Hey I think it's working, glance at Stefan." I whisper to her. She glances at Stefan who is on the other side of the pool looking at us curiously.

I lean in and whisper in her ear. "Just giggle make him think I'm telling you something funny." She started giggling and smiling and she was really believable. I need to make her blush but I can't just tell her too; you blush on command. I know what I have to do, hopefully she won't slap me.

"You look really sexy and beautiful in that bikini. You've really grown up since I left." I whisper huskily in her ear she looks at me shocked with a blush creeping up her face. I smirk and swim away. I look and see Stefan swimming over to me and Lexi swimming over to Elena.

"What's going on with you and Elena?" Stefan asks sternly.

"What do you mean?" I ask innocently.

"You know what I mean, you guys are clearly flirting."

"Nothing's wrong with shameless flirting. I mean look at her, why aren't you flirting?" We both look at her and Lexi talking.

"I just don't see her like that, she's like my sister." Stefan says sincerely. Oh, no Elena's going to be heart broken. "I just don't want her to be another one of your victims; that you play with and then throw out like garbage. I don't want her to be hurt." He says.

I wanted to say that I would never hurt Elena but instead I said, "Trust me; I'm not going to be playing with Elena Gilbert; that would cause too many issues.

Elena and Lexi swim over to us. "Who wants to play water volleyball?" Elena asks with a smirk. I smirk at her and start tickling her sides. She bursts out into a fit of giggles. "Stop. Stop. Please Stop." She says between giggles.

"Come on let's play." I said after I stopped tickling her. Stefan and Lexi went into the shed to grab the net and poles.

"Hey." She says and I look at and smile. "What was with the comment you made earlier?" She said shyly.

"Elena, don't get mad." I smirked. "I said it to make you blush because I know nobody can blush on command." I say something in her face that almost looked like disappointment before it quickly turned to a cheerful smile.

"Okay." She smiles and laid backwards in the water to float.

After playing a few games of volleyball we went back into the house they were all going to watch a movie but I headed upstairs to unpack and relax.

After about a half an hour I'm done unpacking and I'm lying down on my bed listening to ACDC high enough that they can hear it downstairs and feel it through the vibrations.

There's a loud banging at my door. "COME IN!" I yell smirking. Elena opens the door and closes it. She walks over to my stereo and turns the music off.

"HEY!"

"I'll turn it back on, after you promise to keep it turned down enough so that we can actually hear to movie!" She's a little mad.

"You can't listen to ACDC, without it being loud." I inform. I get up and walk over to turn it back up but she stands in front of the stereo. I do my eye thing and she doesn't move or even flinch.

I reach around her so that I can turn the music up but while doing so we end up pushed against each other. I turned the music up and smirk at her.

"Asshole! Why can't you listen to something else until we are done watching our movie?" She asks calmly.

"Because I don't want too." I answer flatly.

"Please?" She asks pouting. Urgh. Since when does she have me wrapped around her finger?

"Fine." I sighed. "But there's something I need to tell you." I say.

"What?"

"I was talking to Stefan, he asked why I was flirting with you. I answered 'How come you're not, look at her?' and he said 'I just don't see her like that, I see her as a sister.' I'm sorry." I say because I think she'll be broken hearted but she didn't look disappointed at all.

'Oh, okay. Well I realized downstairs, I wasn't really jealous of Lexi because I like Stefan but because I miss my best friend." She exclaimed.

"Oh okay then good." I smiled.

"Damon, we should hang out more this summer; it's fun." Elena said bravely.

"Sure." I said with a friendly smile.

"So the great Damon Salvatore is actually admitting to being Elena Gilbert's friend." She smirked.

"Maybe." I smiled. "You've grown up." I say casually.

"Yeah, I guess I have." She smiled before leaving.

**Elena's POV**

After watching the rest of the movie with Lexi and Stefan, Damon ordered us all a pizza for dinner, we laughed and told stories while eating dinner. Their dad has been in the office since he got home so I didn't see him at all.

Around 7, I went home and had a bubble bath. When I finished I put on plaid pajama shorts and a tank top and went and sat on my window sit that over looked the Salvatore house as well the Salvatore's huge back yard and gardens. I grabbed my diary and pen and starting writing.

_Dear Diary,_

_What can I say? Today was pretty amazing. *smiles* Damon finally came home. I missed him so much. And I think my goal actually happened. I know he doesn't think of me as the annoying little girl that follows his brother around anymore but I don't know if he thinks of me the way I want him to. I had an amazing plan. Since flirting with someone else to make Damon jealous wouldn't work on Damon. I thought to ask Damon in private to flirt with me to make Stefan jealous and hopefully it'll make Damon jealous. I was hoping that while flirting with me Damon would become interested in me and then would be jealous that I liked Stefan. How devious am I? I felt kind of bad for using Stefan, but I had too. And I think it might have worked. I asked him while I was getting a drink in the kitchen and he was coming down from his room after changing. He was hesitant at first but when I said 'please' he caved. Then when we went out to join Stefan and Lexi he throw me into the pool and it was so much fun. Later when we were pretend flirting in front of Stefan and Lexi, Damon whispered huskily into my ear 'You look really sexy and beautiful in that bikini. You've really grown up since I left.' He seemed to be completely honest while saying but when I mentioned it later he said that it was just to make me blush in front of Stefan because he knew nobody can blush on command. Later while we were playing volleyball in the pool, he kept tickling my sides, then picked me up by my waist and would throw me into to water behind us. Then later on while Stefan, Lexi and I were watching a movie, Damon was in his room and he had his ACDC music so loud we couldn't hear to t.v and we were downstairs in the living room. I went up there and asked him to turn it down; he said he couldn't listen to ACDC without having it that loud. So I pouted and asked him to listen to something else and I swear I have him wrapped around my finger because he agreed then it took a lot of guts but I asked him to hang out more this summer and he said 'sure' with a genuine smile. A GENUINE SMILE! I haven't seen one of those since before his mother passed away and even then I only saw them when his mother was in the room. I missed him so much and I think I like him double what I did before, if that's even possible. Stefan and Lexi seem to really like each other and I think it's adorable, they'll be cute together if they get together.  
Love Elena,_

**AN: THANK YOU so much for all the reviews., you guys really brightened up my day. I really loved this chapter, again it was so fun writing. Did you like it? Review please :)**


	5. Finally High School

**I don't own anything except the storyline.**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 5: Finally High School **

**September 11****th**** 2007**

_Dear Diary, since Damon got back and I've been 'accidently' hanging out with him the whole summer. I'd ask Stefan to hang out and whenever he tells me he's going somewhere or he's busy (which is a lot) I'd go over there and ask for Stefan when Damon tells me he's busy I'd just ask to hang out with him instead. Whenever we're hanging out we have lots of fun and I think he flirts with me, but that might just be how he acts around everyone. We've watched movies, gone swimming and just talked. He's turning into one of my good friends but I want to be more than his friend. I know I'm only 14 but what I feel for him is huge. What am I saying he's 16 and I know he's experienced, he talks about girls all the time? He's most likely not a virgin. I'm just a little 14 year old who only knows what I've learned in health class. He would never go for me. Today is my first day of high school and I'm so excited. I'm trying out for cheerleading with Bonnie and Caroline and I really hope I make it. Damon's in grade 11 and I'm in grade 9 so it's not like he'll talk to me but I hope he does. Anyway I hope to see him today; my stomach becomes a million pieces when he's around.  
Love, Elena._

I close up my diary and set it on my bedside table. I get up and go downstairs for breakfast. I've already showered, straightened my hair and got dressed. I'm dressed in black skinny jeans and a pink v-neck t-shirt since it's supposed to be rainy and chilly today.

When I get to the kitchen I see my mother making a bagel for herself, dad's drinking coffee and reading the newspaper and of course Jeremy's probably still in bed. He gets up 15 minutes before he has to leave and he doesn't have to go to school as early as me. High School starts at 8:00am but middle school starts at 8:45am, I never understood that.

"Morning." I smiled at my parents.

"Morning Honey." My mom said as I poured myself a glass of orange juice and put a bagel in the toaster for myself.

"Morning Pumpkin." My dad smiled at me.

"You excited for high school, baby?" My mom asked.

"Mhmm." I smiled as I spread cream cheese on my bagel.

"Are you going to try out for cheerleading? You know I was the captain of my cheerleading squad.." I cut her off as I start eating my bagel.

"I know you were captain both of your junior and senior years." I say, I'm excited for trying out because it looks like a lot of fun but my mom goes on and on about it, it gets annoying.

"I was the first junior to ever get to be captain." She said proudly.

"I know mom." I say.

"I just hope the same for you." She says.

"I know, and cheerleading looks like a lot of fun. I'm trying out. Try outs are today after school so I'll be home late." I explain.

"Okay well, isn't Katherine Pierce captain this year?"

"Yes and she's a junior." I say. I really don't like Katherine, every time I've talked to her she acts like a snotty bitch. Her and Damon have had a on and off again weird sexual relationship for the past year. She's kind of a slut.

"Well, be nice to her. Try to be her friend, she'll be choosing the captain seat next year when she graduates and if she likes you maybe you can be captain too when you're a junior."

"So, you're saying I should be a suck up and do whatever she says." I say with attitude.

"No, I'm saying be her friend."

"Whatever." I say finish my bagel and rise my bowl and cup out. "I gotta go get my bag and meet Stefan outside, we are gonna walk together and meet up with Bonnie, Caroline, Matt and Tyler outside of the school." I smile and hug my mom both kissing my dad on my cheek.

"Why doesn't Damon drive you, he drives himself there every day?" She asks.

"Mom, we're freshman, he's a junior. I don't think he wants to be seen with freshman." I say grabbing my lunch money and going to my room.

I grab a sweater, put on my black converse and grab my backpack before leaving my room.

When I get outside I see Damon getting into his car I walk past him to his porch. "Oh Elena, Stefan's finishing up breakfast, I have to get to school early for football practice but good luck with your first day, you'll need it." He says through to car window seriously but laughs when he sees my scared expression. "I'm just kidding. No one even cares about the freshman we just ignore you all." He smirks.

"Thanks, I feel so special." I say sarcastically but I smile.

He smiles and drives off. I knock on the door and hear Stefan call out "COME IN!" I open the door and walk inside. Giuseppe is most likely already at work since he leaves super early and doesn't get back till after dinner. After Elisabeth passed away Damon practically had to raise Stefan. He cooked him dinner, made sure he did his homework. And Damon was still a kid himself.

I go into the kitchen and smile at the memory of Damon and me scaring Jenna, Alaric and Stefan, we scared them good two years ago.

"Hey." I say to Stefan whose finishing a bowl of Cheerios.

"Hi." Stefan takes his bowl over to the sink and runs some water. He takes the Cheerios box to the pantry. When he comes back he grabs his backpack. "Hey, you don't mind if we pick up Lexi do you?" He asks a little hesitant because he knows we don't get along that well.

"Yeah, sure." I say because I know how happy he is with her and I can see them getting together soon.

The walk to school is about 25 minutes long and was fun and laughable. When we arrive at the school Stefan and Lexi go up to Matt and Tyler and I go to Bonnie and Caroline.

"Hey!" I smiled big; we are finally in high school!

"Hey Elena!" Bonnie smiles.

"Hi!" Caroline squeaked.

"You guys ready?" I said talking about going into the school.

They both nod and we all link arms with me in the building and walked into the school. It's so huge, I already knew this cause of orientation but I still feel like I'm going to get lost.

We go up to the line for grade nines to get their schedules and locker numbers. We stood in line for about five minutes till we were in the front. We got our schedules and went off to the side to look at them.

My schedule says I have English first, then Art, then History, then lunch, then Geography and lastly Gym. Having gym last is great business right afterwards I'll have cheerleading practice if I get on the squad so I won't have to change again.

"I have English first with Cunningham, then Gym with Fleet, then History with Tanner, then lunch, then Math with Fletcher and lastly Science with Jones." Caroline says.

"We have History together." Bonnie smiles.

"We have English and History together." I say with a smile. "I have English first, then Art with Watson, then History, then lunch, then Geography with Stalkman and lastly Gym with McCormack, what do we together Bonnie?"

"We have Art, History, Geography and Gym together." Bonnie says after looking at her schedule. She's smiling with excitement.

"Aww you guys have so many classes together when I'm all alone." Caroline says upset.

"Hey, we all have History together." Bonnie says reassuring.

"I gonna go see what Stefan has." I say before walking over to Lexi and Stefan who are smiling and looking at their schedules.

"Hey, here's my schedule." I pass my schedule to Stefan. "What do we have together?" I ask.

"You have English with both me and Lexi and you also have History with me and Gym with Lexi." Stefan says.

"Yay." I smile.

"Let's go find our lockers, since we have English first they'll be in the English hall. Damon said that's how it works." Stefan explains.

"Okay," I wave to Bonnie and Caroline to follow. Bonnie has Math first so she goes towards to Math hall.

I find my locker and its two down from Caroline's, I open it and put my bag and sweater in it. I grab my English binder and my pencil case and close my locker. I turn around to find Damon standing right behind me.

"Hey." He smiles at me.

"Hi." I reply.

"Let's see you schedule.." He says. I hand my schedule to him and he looks it over. "Cunningham's nice but gives a lot of work, I never had Watson but I heard she's cool, Tanner is an ass and gives way to much work, kind of the worse teacher to get, never had Stalkman, pretty sure he's new this year and McCormack's a bitch." He smirks.

"Great." I smile. Leaning up against my locker, I look over at Caroline but she's talking to tenth grade girls, she's always been popular.

"Damon my man." I hear a guy with a British accent say. I look over and see a guy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes 'man' hugging Damon, he's hot. "Ahh, already scoping out the freshman girls." He smirks after seeing me. "This one's cute." I blush.

"Elena, you remember Klaus? Klaus this is Elena Gilbert my next door neighbor." Damon smirks. Oh now that he mentions it, I haven't seen Klaus in years, he's changed.

"The girl next door, huh?" Klaus smirks.

"Shut up man." Damon says.

"Hi." I smile, he grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth to kiss, I blush.

"It's a pleasure to see you again love." He smiles. I blush.

"You too Mr. Mikaelson." I say playful. He's hot but he's nothing compared to Damon.

Klaus laughs. "I gotta go, see you in Science class Damon." Klaus says before leaving.

Damon turns to me and smiles.

"He seems different." I say.

"Yeah, when he was younger he was just an annoying brat but he's matured. Well, have a good first day Elena." Gosh I just love how he says my name. He walks away before I have a chance to say anything else. I just stare in awe of him going up to a group of cheerleaders and I see him kiss Katherine the head cheerleader. Gosh I hate her.

"You're staring." I turn quickly in surprise and find Jenna my cousin standing behind me smirking.

"Shut up." I hug her quickly.

"Your crush on Damon hasn't gone down at all I see?" She sighs.

"Nope." I frown.

"He's just going to hurt you."

"I know." I sigh. "You know when you first found out about my crush two years ago, you were all for it."

"I was thirteen and Damon wasn't a player or asshole yet." She explains. I frown. "He hooks up with different girls every week."

"He's been on and off with Katherine for almost a year now." I point out.

"Yeah well that's different; she's a female version of himself and he just loves the sex." I look at her weird. "What I heard him talking about how great it was with Rick?" She explains.

"Have you and Rick… you know?" I ask.

"No.. I haven't even turned sixteen yet and I'm scared." She says shyly.

"You have a right to be. And that's right big sweet sixteen is in a couple months." I smile excited.

"It's gonna be huge, a Halloween/Sweet Sixteen party." She smiles.

The first bell rings and Jenna goes off to class while I meet up with Caroline, Lexi and Stefan and we go to our very first class.

* * *

It's the end of the day, I've realized I love high school, it's great. Bonnie and I are waiting in the change room for Caroline we are all going to try out for cheerleading together. I haven't seen Damon since this morning but I will when trying out for cheerleading since both cheerleading and football practice are on the football field.

I go and check my hair in the mirror I don't want to look sweaty or anything. I'm wearing pink short shorts and a grey tang top. My hair is in a high pony tail.

"Trying to look good for someone?" Bonnie questions as Caroline rushes into the room and starts to get changed.

"NO!" I say defending.

"Calm down Elena." Bonnie smirks. "I know you have a crush, I just don't know who it is."

"I know who." Caroline says.

"No you don't!" I send her a glare.

"Just tell her." Caroline smirks.

"Why won't you tell me?" Bonnie questioned defended.

"Because you don't like him and you might judge." I explain. Bonnie sends me a glare. "Fine, its Damon." I mumble.

"What! No way!" Bonnie says shocked. "Oh my gosh. You're serious." Bonnie says.

"Yup she has a thing for the older Salvatore." Caroline practically sings as she's tying her running shoes.

"You can't speak a word of it." I plead.

"I won't I promise." Bonnie says.

"I've liked him since I was like eight." I said.

"Seriously! How did I not see this." Bonnie says shocked.

"Anyways, we'll talk about it later. We already late for cheer practice." I say before following the other two out of the change room.

* * *

We get to the squad right before Captain Katherine and her number two Rebekah get there. We sit don't with the rest of the girls trying out. I see Damon looking at me strangely from across the field. He must be surprised I'm trying out.

Katherine and Rebekah show us a bunch of dances and cheers and tell us to do the best we can and if that's not good enough we won't make it on the squad. So we are line up in rows and start rehearsing the dances while Katherine and Rebekah watch us and take notes.

**Damon's POV **

Seriously, why does she have to be so fucking gorgeous? The way she's moving and dancing. I'm practically staring at her during my water break in football practice. Why is she trying out for cheerleading? It doesn't seem like her thing but then again she's took dance class since she was seven and loves it. I remember how excited she was about it back then and I acted like she annoyed me even though I loved seeing her smiling.

She just did the splits! Seriously, I need to invite Kat over tonight, to get some of this tension out. I know I'm horrible. But Katherine doesn't care, she knows that it's just sex between us and trust me she loves it just as much as me.

I start chugging my water to cool myself off when I see my teammate Klaus come over to me. "I saw you staring." He smirks.

"You saw nothing." I say calmly.

"You have the hots for little Elena Gilbert." I glare at him. "Hey, I get it she's hot." I give him a death stare just for saying that. "Hey, I won't go for her. Don't worry. Actually at lunch today I bumped into her blonde friend and she didn't freak out about how hot I am or my accent is. It was refreshing. She's a beauty."

"That's Caroline Forbes, and really Klaus? You just have to be all old speaking and English." I smirk.

"Hey, I can't help how I was taught to speak." He says defensibly. "You never denied having the hots for Elena."

"No I didn't" I smirk. "But could never have her because after I hurt her it would be so awkward. Her parents are friends with my dad. She's best friends with Stefan and is always at our house. She's forbidden fruit." I say angrily.

"That sucks man." Klaus says.

"Salvatore! Mikaelson! Back to practice!" Coach yelled at us.

We went back to practice right away, but I kept getting distracted by how well Elena moves. She's a perfect cheerleader. I keep imagining her in her hot little cheer uniform and a ribbon in her hair. I have a problem.

**Elena's POV**

Throughout the cheerleading try outs I kept catching Damon staring at me but he didn't know I knew he was watching me. I loved it through. I feel even more motivated to get on this team because now I can show Damon four days a week what he's missing out on. I feel like I did really well but it's hard to tell with Katherine Pierce. But I feel confident anyway.

"Alright, girls sit down." Katherine says to us and we all sit on the grass. "So there are eight spots on the squad but 15 tried out so we have narrowed it down and here are the girls that made it order of your last names; Bonnie Bennet, Amber Bradley, Tina Fell, Caroline Forbes, Elena Gilbert, Sarah Miller, Dana Roberts and April Young." She smiled. I looked at Caroline and Bonnie and smiled.

"We made it." Caroline squeaked. There was a lot of chatter and talk, some girls very sad, some even crying.

"Okay, okay. Girls." Katherine said getting everyone's attention. "If your name wasn't called, better luck next year. If it was called you are expected at practice Monday to Wednesday and every other Friday on game nights." Katherine said sternly.

Everyone got up and headed towards the change rooms.

After everyone was done changing Bonnie, Caroline and I were heading out of the change rooms with our backpacks.

"I'm so excited to be a cheerleader!" Caroline said with an huge smile. "It's an automatic in." She says.

"And we all are already invited to Jenna's Halloween party which is one of the biggest parties of the year since she's dating Rick and he's very popular." I smile.

"YAY" Caroline squeaks.

"Bye guys." I said walking the opposite way then them since they don't live near me.

"Call me tonight!" Caroline calls me.

"Okay." I smile.

When I get about a block away from the school, Damon pulls up beside me in his Camaro with the top down since it's not as chilly as it was supposed to be. "Wanna a ride?" He smirks and does that eyes thing of his.

"Sure." I smile and hop in putting my bag in his backseat.

"So how was cheerleading try outs?" He asks after he started driving towards our homes.

"Great." I smile. "I made the squad."

"Of course you did, you've been taking dance classes since you were seven. You're an amazing dancer." He says calmly.

"Thank you." I smile shyly.

"I didn't think cheerleading was your thing but you seem great at it."

"Really?"

"Yeah I mean, you have captain qualities." He says kindly.

"Thanks Damon. My mom was captain both her junior and senior years of high school and I want her to be proud." I say shyly.

"She will be." He said reassuring. He pulled into his driveway turned the engine off.

"Thanks for the drive Damon."

"Anytime Elena." He does that eye thing again.

I grab my backpack and we get out of the car. We smile at each other one last time before going our separate ways into our homes.

When I get inside my mom's sitting watching Oprah in the living room. She smiles at me and mutes the t.v. "How was it?" She asks with a huge smile.

"Great! I made the squad so did Caroline and Bonnie." I smile and sit beside her on the couch.

"That's so awesome. I'm so proud of you!"

"Really?" I smile.

"Yes. Whens your practices?" She asks.

"Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. Then every other Friday is game day and we have practices before games." I smile.

"Great. I'm so happy for you. You're going to have so much fun."

"When's dad home from work?" I ask.

"Not till after 6." She frowns.

"Well I'm going to go do my homework." I say before going upstairs to my room with my backpack.

I grab my diary and sit on my window seat, writing about my day and about Damon. When I see Katherine get out of her car next door and walk up to the Salvatore's. She knocks on the door and Damon opens, he grabs her kisses her and she wraps her legs around his waist. He carries her inside and shuts the door without his lips leaving hers. My heart literally feels like it's been ripped in half. I feel a tear leave my eye but I quickly wipe it away and carry on with my night. I refuse to be broken because Damon's a whore.

**AN 1: So I know the end of it was a little sad and crappy but the rest of it was a great and fun chapter huh. **

**AN 2: You all are going to love and maybe hate the next chapter, I know it. So the more of you that review, the faster I'll update.**

**AN 3: THANK YOU for all the reviews, followers and favourites. PLEASE REVIEW :D**

**AN 4: Happy Thanksgiving to all Canandians.**


	6. Halloween

**AN: So I have bad news, I wont be able to update for a couple days because I'm really behind on my school work but I feel like this is such a great chapter, it'll make up.**

**AN: I changed Stefan's birthday so it's in November instead of October. Enjoy my favourite chapter so far.**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 6: Halloween**

**October 31****st**** 2007**

"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. Make it last forever, friendship never ends. If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give. Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is." Caroline, Bonnie and I are jumping on my bed singing along to one of our favourite Spice Girl songs. We are all in my room getting ready for Jenna's Birthday/Halloween party. It's so awesome that she was born on Halloween.

"Okay. Are ready the see my costume for tonight?" I giggle, okay so Caroline snuck some vodka for her mom's liquor stash. But we've only had one cup each and we mixed it with ginger ale. So I'm buzzed but not drunk. It's my first time ever drinking and I don't want my mom to realize.

I walk over to my closet and pull out a black cute dress that reaches mid-thigh. It's hot.

"Nice, but what you supposed to be?" Caroline asks. I pull out my fake fangs and fake blood from the closet it and smile. "Ahh I see."

"Yeah I'm a vampire; I want to curl my hair for affect."

Caroline is going as Tinklebell and is already dress and ready. She straightened her hair and put a green butterfly clip in it. She's wearing a cute short light green dress, green fairy wings and green flats. She has sparkles and red lip stick as her make-up and she looks gorgeous.

Bonnie is a witch, she's wearing a black ballerina dress and black heels, with a cute witch hat and witch broom. She's not wearing any make-up, it's not her thing but she's hot anyway.

About forty minutes later I'm already ready and I look in the mirror. I have my hot black cocktail dress on and it's beautiful. I have black tights underneath it and black high heel boots that go up to my knee. I have my fake fangs in and fake blood dripping down my mouth to my neck. I curled my hot and it makes me look wild and evil. I'm not one to brag but I look gorgeous, hot and beautiful.

"Man, you look hot!" Caroline smirked. "You're gonna have Damon drooling."

"I don't care about Damon." I say emotionless. "He has Katherine."

"They broke up." I hear Bonnie say. But I already know it. They broke up a week ago for the third time since school started. The first two times, I was all giddy because I had a chance with him but now I'm not gonna get my hopes up when I know they'll get back together. They might even get back together tonight.

"It doesn't matter. He's a whore. I want a good guy. Like Matt." I smile at the thought.

"You like Matt!? Since when?" Caroline says excited.

"I don't know. He's nice and I'm pretty sure he likes me. He's good for me. Damon would just end up hurting me." I explain.

"Oh. Well if you and Matt get together, you can double date with me and Tyler all the time!" She said excited. Tyler and her got together about a month ago and she acts like she's in love. "You know because Stefan and Tyler don't get along very well so we can't double with Stefan and Lexi and I want to go on a double date so badly!"

"Okay, if we do get together; we can go on a double date." I give in.

"Yay. We should get over to the party." Caroline says.

"Are you meeting Tyler there?" Bonnie asks.

"Mhm." She nods. And we head over to the Salvatore's where the party is being held. Jenna had to beg Giuseppe because it's like the biggest house in town and it's really old and creepy, it's perfect for Halloween. Giuseppe is hanging out with my parents at my place for the night. My mom told me before I left that we (Caroline and Bonnie are staying the night) shouldn't be out too late since it's a school night and the only reason she's letting me go is its Jenna's party and it's next door.

When we get next door, people are already arriving and we just walk right in. We see everyone from school, but not many ninth graders. It doesn't bother us since we all know older students and we blend in with them.

We find Jenna and Alaric in the den dancing. Bonnie and Caroline go up to some other people one of which is Tyler and I head towards Alaric and Jenna who are dressed as Sandy and Danny from Grease which is Jenna's favourite movie. That's adorable.

"Hey! I love your guys costumes!" I say to them.

"Aww thank you, I love yours!" Jenna says.

"Happy Birthday!" I hug Jenna.

"Thanks, but you already said that at school today." Jenna smirked.

"I know." I laughed. "Have you seen Stefan and Lexi?"

"I saw them go out back a while back. I think they went for a walk." Alaric said.

"Oh.. well I'll leave you guys, I'm going to get a drink." I tell them.

"The punch is spiked." Jenna smiles.

"Good to know." I smirk.

I walk over to the drink table and wonder if I should just stick with water or have some spiked punch. I grab a red cup and put some punch in it and take a spit, it's actually really good.

"Little Elena Gilbert drinking, partying. Kind of a shocker." I hear a familiar voice that I don't like at all. I turn around and find Mason Lockwood right behind me. The same Mason Lockwood that picked on me and Stefan when we were little. I've barely talked to him since, I hate him. "Wow Innocent Elena got hot!" He smirked.

"Shut up asshole." I mumble while continuing drinking the punch.

"And she swears. It's nice to see you too Elena." He smirks, but it's not a nice smirk like Damon's it's evil like.

I sigh and walk away. Gosh I hate him. I wonder upstairs and into the game room. I sit down on the couch feeling a little light headed since tonight's the first time I'm drinking and I've already had two. The music from downstairs is vibrating the whole house.

I hear giggles and kissing outside of the game room and I open the door just a crack to see Andie Star making out with Damon outside of Damon's bedroom down the hall. Andie has Damon pushed up against his door practically attacking him.

Damon is dressed as a murderer I think. He has ripped clothes and fake blood all over them and a knife sticking out of his boot. Andie is dressed as some kind of slutty bunny. She has pink short shorts, and a white tang top that say 'Hot Bunny' in pink with bunny ears and a bunny tale.

Andie's a huge slut, she's on the cheerleading squad and is friends with Katherine but I guess she doesn't care that he's Katherine's ex and Kat's her friend.

"Andie." Damon said but I'm not sure if he's moaning or trying to get her attention. My question is answered when he pushes her off. "Andie." He says more of a warning this time. She looked at him with a pout. "I can't do this."

"Why?" She says upset.

"I just don't want to. I don't want you." He says mean.

"Okay, asshole." She says mad and walks away back downstairs. I close the door quietly but quickly so neither of them sees me and I sigh. She'll get over it by sleeping with someone else later tonight.

I think it's the alcohol but after I hear Damon's door open and close I get this rush of bravery and I get up. I straighten out my outfit and leave the game room. I look in the mirror in the hallway checking my make-up and hair before knocking on Damon's bedroom door.

"One second." I hear him call from his bathroom, I'm pretty sure. After about 30 seconds he opens the door with a shocked expression seeing me. I can tell he was cleaning the lipstick off his neck from Andie.

"Hi?" He says awkwardly. Through the rips on his shirt I can see parts on his chest and my gosh he's so gorgeous. Why does he have to be this perfect?

"Hi. You busy?" I say with a small smirk.

"Nope, I was just gonna head back to the party."

"Wanna hang out here instead?" I ask shyly.

I can see in his face he doesn't know if he should or not. "Sure." He smiles and opens the door more to let me in. I walk in. I look around and it's dark but there's a small lamp on his bedside table on. "What do you want to do?" He asks and I shrug. He smirks. "Wait here." He says before leaving his room.

I start to walk over to his dresser where I see pictures on it; one of himself and his mom when he was about six or seven; right around the time he moved here. He was so cute. Another picture was him and Stefan at Damon's eleventh birthday right before his mom died, they both look really happy.

Then there was a picture of Damon, Stefan, Alaric, Jenna and me at Damon's 14th birthday party. I remember taking this picture right before me and Jenna had to go home Giuseppe got home and saw us all laughing and having fun and he wanted to take a picture. Damon, me and Stefan are on one of the couches with Alaric and Jenna on the floor in front of us. I'm between Damon and Stefan like always but what I never noticed before was that Damon's arm was around my shoulders casually. I smile just thinking about it. I never knew his arm was there. How did I not notice this before? The frame the picture is in says 'Family'. My smile grows so big my cheeks start to hurt.

I hear Damon come in. I turn around and see he has a bottle of bourbon in his right hand and in the other he has some type of vodka cooler with a dark pink colour probably for me.

"I didn't think you would like bourbon so I got you a Strawberry cooler. You'll like it." He says passing it to me. I take it and open it right away taking a sip. It's actually really good.

"Thanks." I smile.

He walks over to his bed and lies down on the right side of the queen size bed. He pats the other side of the bed telling me to join him.

I lie down and look over at him seeing him drinking bourbon straight out of the bottle. "Can I try some?" I ask.

"Sure. But be warned it's very strong." He smirks and passes it over. I take a small sip and it is strong but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I feel a rush of energy run through me and I love it. I take another sip but this time not as small. "Wow, you can drink bourbon. Who would believe that?" Damon smirks while I cough a little.

"Shut up." I say passing it back. "If I didn't have this cooler to finish I would so be keeping that." I smirk.

"Oh I would fight for it." He does that eye thing that makes the butterflies in my stomach fly a thousand times faster. "Wanna play a game?" He asks.

"Depends." I say with a smirk before taking a drink of my cooler.

"We take turns asking questions and if you don't want to answer one, you take a big gulp of bourbon." He explains.

"Sure, you go first." I say bravely taking another sip of my drink.

He looks to be thinking for a second. "Okay I'll start out with an easy one; how do you really feel about cheerleading?" He asks.

"I don't know, I don't love it like I make my mom believe but it is kind of fun." I shrug.

"Okay I'll take that now your turn." He says while I'm practically chugging my drink, I need alcohol for bravery.

"Um, why do you sleep with different girls all the time? I mean why don't you just find someone and date them, like a normal person?" I ask bravely, I guess the alcohol worked.

He laughs. "I sleep around because it's fun and I get bored if I'm with one girl for too long." He smirks. Wow I don't even know why I asked that. It's the alcohol talking. Damon takes a few swigs of his bourbon. "Are you sure you don't have feelings for my brother?" He asks.

"Yes, I'm sure." I say confidently, taking a drink from my drink but just now realizing it's empty. I pout and he passes the bourbon to me, I take a sip of it. "Why do you date Katherine, she's such a bitch?" I ask with bravery.

"Yes she is a bitch. And I do not date Katherine Pierce. I just have sex with her more than most girls." He smirks.

"Why?"

"Cause it's good sex and I don't get bored. But I wouldn't date her, she's evil." He says with a smirk. "Now, if you have no feelings for Stefan, why did you make me flirt with you to make him jealous a couple months ago?" He asks like he knows the answer. "Remember, you can't lie." He says while taking a small sip of the bourbon.

He's right; I can't lie to him even if I tried, he would know I was lying. I grab the bourbon out of his hand and take a huge gulp of it. He gives me this look of awe. I cough a little and pass the bottle back to him.

**Damon's POV**

Fuck. She's lying in my bed. Drinking bourbon and smiling. Gosh I can't have feelings for her. Fuck. Why doesn't she want to answer that question? I don't understand this. Fuck.

"So.. Got a question to ask?" I ask.

"Yeah, do you find me sexy?" She asks with a giggle, she's either really drunk or I think I'm hearing things.

"What?" I ask almost scared to answer that question.

"Do you find me sexy Damon? I want to know." She says bravely.

"Of course." I answer after taking a gulp of bourbon and feeling the burn in my throat.

"Of course what?" She asks like she doesn't believe me.

"Of course I find you sexy Lena, look at you. I'd have to be gay not to." The alcohol says. I really shouldn't be saying this. I'll regret it so much tomorrow but I'm almost drunk and she needs to know how beautiful she is. "You're beautiful Elena." I say looking in her eyes.

"Really?" She asks shyly.

"Yup. Now it's my turn." I say with a smirk. "How would you describe me?" I ask with a smirk.

She grabs to bourbon bottle and I get disappointed that she won't be answering the question. She takes a big gulp and then passes it back. "I'll still answer I just need a little more bravery."

"Okay take your time." I smirk.

She drinks more bourbon and starts giggling. Okay I think she's getting drunk. "So, you're gorgeous, hot, sexy, funny, kind. I love your smirk but I love your smile even more. You act like an asshole around most people but I'm one of the fortunate few who've seen your real side. And your real side is amazing." She lets out a breath. "There's so much more I could say about you but I don't think we have all night." She says with a smile and I know she's drunk. I look at her in shock of what she just said and shock of her being drunk.

Without even thinking I grab her by her waist and pull her on top of me and kiss her passionately before she even has a chance to react. I know she's only fourteen so I'm not expecting her to know much but the second our lips touch I feel myself getting hard. Her just being her makes this kiss the best and hottest kiss I've ever had.

I'm sitting up against the headboard and she's straddling my hips. She has her hands around my neck and I have my hands on her hips holding her too me.

I slide my tongue against her lips asking for entrance that she allows. The second our tongues hit each other we both moan in pleasure. After a few minutes of our tongues battling for dominance, my mouth leaves her and takes a path sucking on her neck because we both need a breath. I suck on one spot of her neck for so long they will sure be a mark there tomorrow.

After a few minutes of sucking on her neck I flip her over so I'm on top and I begin kissing her again. That's when reality finally sets in. This is Elena. The girl I grew up with. My brother's best friend. A fourteen year old. And we're both drunk. I stop what we are doing and sit up. I don't look at her. I can't.

We both stay quiet. But then there's a knock on my door. "One second." I yell. She sits up ad fixes her hair.

I get up and walk to the door opening it. I see Caroline and Bonnie standing there. They see Elena behind and look relieved. "Finally we found you. We've been looking everywhere. It's past midnight. Your mom's going to freak." Caroline says worried.

"Seriously! Holy crap." Elena giggles. She stumbles over to Caroline and Bonnie and I smile.

"She's been drinking." I smirk.

"Seriously Damon. Her mom better not figure out or we'll tell her you gave it to her and she'll have your head on a stick." Bonnie says judgingly.

"Goodnight Damon." Elena says smiling before leaving with Bonnie and Caroline.

I sigh and close my door. Fuck. I just made out with Elena Gilbert. Now I have to have a cold shower.

Tomorrow I have to tell her it was a mistake. It was the alcohol and we should never speak of it again. But I have a feeling it's going to hurt her;which is the worst thing in the world.

**AN: How'd you like it? PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews make me smile.**


	7. Stefan's Fabulous 14th Birthday

**AN: I know this is really short, but after you read it, you will know why it's so short. SORRY for mistakes, I wanted to get this to you so fast that I didn't have time to proof read. PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 7: Stefan's _Fabulous _14th Birthday**

**November 30****th**** 2007**

I'm sitting here in the movie theater watching a new Christmas comedy movie called 'Fred Claus' with Stefan, Lexi and Matt. This is Stefan kind of birthday party. His birthday was a few days ago. Stefan and Lexi closest friends are Matt and me so we all decided to go to this movie together. I'm so not interested in this movie.

I feel Matt's arm go around my shoulder and it makes this feel so much more real. I'm on a double date with Lexi and Stefan and my date's Matt Donovan. He's nice and all but I think of him as my brother. I've literally known him since I was a baby. Our moms use to be best friends but they drifted apart.

Having Matt's arm around me reminds me of the picture Damon has in his room. Which reminds me of Halloween. Ugh! Everything reminds me of that night. I can't get it out of my head or the day after Halloween and the awkward conversation with Damon; when I got heartbroken.

_November 1__st__ 2007…_

_Elena was standing at her locker feeling horrible. It was her first hangover ever and it felt like her head was going to explode. She looked at her watch and saw she still had five minutes before first period. She grabbed her binder and pencil case anyway and closed her locker. She turned around and saw Damon heading over to her. Gosh oh no. Not this conversation. It's too early for it and my Advil hasn't kicked in yet. She thought to herself._

_She turns around and starts walking the other way pretending she didn't see him. But he catches up with her and starts walking beside her. Neither of them spoke until she reached her English class. She turned to him. "Hi." She says quietly_

"_Hi, how you feeling?" He asks with a smirk._

"_Horrible."_

"_First hangover. Got Advil?" He asks._

"_I took one before leaving this morning." She replies._

"_You'll need another one at lunch. Come to my locker, I'll give you one." He says kindly._

"_Thanks." She smiles small._

"_Do you remember everything from last night?" He asks awkwardly._

"_Um.. I think so." She says innocently but calmly._

"_What do you remember?" _

"_Well I came to your room and we played an intense question game and got very drunk." She says._

"_Oh." He says relieved._

"_Oh and also the fact that I had my very first kiss and make-out session with you of all people." She snaps. His face looks freaked. "You were hoping I forgot." She says mad._

"_It's just we were both really drunk and it shouldn't have happened. It was a mistake. You a very good friend of mine and we shouldn't ruin that." He tried to explain._

"_Yeah I get it." She says with a hurt voice. The first bell rings. "Bye Damon." She says before walking into her English classroom._

I can't get Damon out of my head. He's so perfect. And I got to have my first kiss and make-out session with him. When I was on my lap that night I could feel he was hard and it made me think. What if he wants to be with me? He just thinks it's a bad idea cause of Stefan and our families are such good friends.

ELENA! You're on a date with Matt not Damon. Stop thinking about Damon. Gosh what is wrong with me? Matt is hot. All the girls in ninth grade want to be his girlfriend. He's super nice. He's funny. He's a great guy. All American kind of guy. The only problem is he's not Damon. I don't think I will ever find a guy that is better than Damon and that's a huge problem.

I don't even realize the movies over until the lights come on and people start getting up. I smile and stand up. I stretch my legs and turn to Stefan and Lexi who've been dating for two months now and are very happy together. They are holding hands and I think it's adorable. Matt grabs my hand and I don't protest. We leave the theater.

We don't have a theater in Mystic Falls so Stefan's dad drove us to the movie theater in Richmond and is supposed to pick us when Stefan texts him. So we can hang out for a while if we want.

We are now walking through the park next to the theater we are laughing and me and Stefan are sharing childhood memories of growing up together.

"Elena? Remember when you and Damon got in that huge fight when we were about nine and you threw a dictionary at him?" Stefan asked laughing.

"You threw a dictionary at Damon?" Lexi said shocked.

"I don't even remember what that fight was about but yes I got very mad." I admitted laughing.

We were all laughing when Stefan's cell phone started ringing. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it. "It's Damon." He says.

"Hello." Stefan says answering the phone. "Oh okay.." He listens to Damon. "Um yeah okay pick us up then." He says before hanging up and looking at us. Crap. Damon has to pick us up. I've been avoiding him since Halloween.

"Dad is busy with work so Damon has to pick us up. He's leaving now so he'll be here in 45 minutes." He explains. "Do you guys wanna go get pizza?"

"Yeah sure." Matt answers.

"There's a pizza place over there." Lexi points to a place called Joe's Pizza across the street. We start to head over there while Stefan texts Damon telling him where we are.

When we get into the small diner like pizzeria, Lexi and I go and sit in a booth while Stefan and Matt go and order. "So what's going on with you and Matt?" Lexi asks looking for gossip.

"I don't know, this is like the first date." I say.

"Yeah but do you really like him, have you guys been flirting?" She smiles.

"I don't think so. Me and Matt have known each other since we were babies, it just doesn't seem right." I shrug.

"Oh." She pouts. "Well he's a really great guy. I'm sure he'll understand." She tries to reassure me.

"Yeah but I'm still gonna hurt him." I say sadly.

Matt and Stefan come over with a medium half peperoni and half cheese pizza since Lexi is a vegetarian and I don't like peperoni. We share the pizza and laugh and have fun with friends. I have to admit, I had a really fun time tonight even if I don't like that it's a date with Matt.

"Damon should be here any minute." Stefan and Matt pay for the pizza while Lexi and I wait outside for Damon. He pulls up right when Matt and Stefan come out of the pizzeria.

Stefan, Matt and Lexi pile into the backseat and I'm stuck upfront with Damon not that they did it on purpose; they don't know I'm avoiding him.

"Hey Elena." Damon says as I get into the car.

"Hi, Damon." I see the time is 11:30 on his radio clock. "Crap I didn't realize it was so late. My mom's gonna be pissed."

"Oh, she'll get over it." Damon smirked. I smiled.

I turn the music up loud and a new black eye peas song comes on. We all start dancing in our seats because we are weirdos except Damon he groans at the choice of music. "Come on, Dammy. Lighten up." I smile at him.

"Is that seriously the same name you called me when you were five?" He smirks.

"Yeah." I say like it's nothing.

Wannabe by the Spice Girls come on and it immediately reminds me on Halloween as well but I sing along to it anyway because I'm in a good mood.

It feels like time slows down. I'm smiling huge, I look over at Damon and he smiles back. This is what was perfect in my life; Damon. No matter how much I didn't want like him, no matter how much I tried to avoid him he can always make me happy.

I was right in the middle of singing the second chorus when I saw Damon's smile turn into a horrified and worried expression I didn't even hear him yelling my name I just saw his face and I turned to look out my window when I saw a set of headlights blinding me.

Everything went black.

**AN: I know I'm horrible. It's short but it had to be and I really wanted to get this updated fast because I'm going away tomorrow and won't be able to write till Sunday. So I won't be able to update till at least Sunday if not Monday. So sorry.. **** PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. The Aftermath

**AN: Sorry if there's any mistakes, I want to get this to you tonight (it's 6pm where I am) but I don't have time to proof read it cause I got lots of homework to do so hope you don't mind.**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 8: The Aftermath**

**December 1****st**** 2007: 12:06am**

I feel dizzy. My head's pounding. Where am I? I open my eyes to see I'm upside down in a car. Or is the car upside down? I don't know what's going on. I look to my right and what I see make's me die inside.

"ELENA!" I yell at the unconscious brunette beside me. The passager window beside her is smash and she has blood all over her face. Her left leg looks broken just by the way it's bent. Her side of the car is smashed into her. She has a huge gash in her head. She looks dead. But she's not. I won't believe it.

I hear sirens. Gosh please get here fast. I hear coughing from the backseat. Opps I forgot there was more people in this car. "Damon." I hear my baby brother breathe out.

"Stefan, are you okay?" I ask.

"I think so, I feel dizzy but I think I'll be fine. What about you?" He asks.

"Same. Elena's not looking good though." I say trying to be calm. "Who's behind Elena?" I ask because I know that's where the car hit.

"Matt." Stefan says sad. "Lexi looks okay just knocked out."

"What about Matt?" I ask.

"He's got some cuts from the broken window and his arm looks broken but he's breathing." He's says.

"That's good." I say but I'm not happy. Elena looks to be in the worst condition, and I feel guilty. I was driving. But I hadn't drank any alcohol tonight. I swear. I didn't run a red light. I'm sure of it. I think. It had to be the other driver.

"Damon, we have to get out of this car. It could blow up." Stefan says.

"I know. Try waking up Lexi."

"Lexi… Lexi. Wake up." He whispered.

"What, what's going on?" I heard Lexi gasp as she woke up.

"No time to explain we have to get out of here. Can you get out your door?" Stefan asks.

I hear Lexi raddle her door open and crawl out, I then hear Stefan crawl out after her. "Matt." I hear Stefan try to wake Matt up. "Matt!" He says louder. I hear Matt groan probably waking up. "Can you crawl over here?" I hear Stefan ask.

"Um probably." He says. "Oh I think my seat belt is stuck." He groans.

"Damon, get out here." Stefan tells me.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't, either crawl out your door and if you can't do that crawl to the back and crawl out this door?" Stefan says slightly annoyed.

"I just can't." I say. I can't tell him that I don't want to leave until I get Elena out first. That's when I hear the ambulance pull up.

"Excuse me, I have to ask you both to wait across the street for safety." I hear a paramedic say to Stefan and Lexi and they walk away.

I see a guy in his late thirties crouches down by my broken window. "Son, are you able to move."

"Yeah get Elena out." I say pointing at Elena but feeling dizzy myself. I look over at Elena and see another paramedic carefully removing her from the car through her smashed door that is already practically falling off my car. I sigh in relief then I hear Matt talking to a paramedic about what he thinks happened. I assume they got him out to. I start to crawl out my window when I feel like my head is exploding I scream and everything goes black.

* * *

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

I open my eyes only slightly because my eye lids feel like they are 100 pounds each. I'm too tired to lift them open. Wherever I am is bright. I look to my left and see I'm in a hospital room with equipment and machines everywhere, I look to my right and see two chairs up against to wall with my dad and Stefan sleeping sitting up in them. The chairs are up against a window.

"Dad." I barely whisper. Gosh my throat kills.

I see both his and Stefan's eyes open. Stefan jumps up and hurries over to me. "Damon! How you feeling?" He asks.

"Is Elena okay?" I say before I can stop myself.

I see a look of confusion on my dad's face it's like I can read his mind, he's probably thinking '_Since when are Damon and Elena close?_' He doesn't pay attention to me very much. But the look I see on Stefan's face says a whole lot more. The look is sad, knowing, intense, awkward and so much more.

"She is still unconscious. She has a broken leg, concussion and had internal bleeding; they had to do surgery on her." He explains.

I sigh in relief, she survived. That's all that matters. A doctor in his mid-thirties walks in the room. "Hi, Damon. I'm Doctor Samuels. It's nice to see you awake."

"Hi." I whisper.

"I'm going to try to explain everything with the least amount of technical terms so you understand. You were in a car crash, do you remember?" He asks.

I nod.

"Well in the crash you hit your head pretty bad and a result of that was internal bleeding and an concussion. You were conscious when the ambulance arrived and your brother said you seemed fine and helped get him and his girlfriend out of the car, do you remember any of this?" He asks.

I think about it. My memories are really blurry but I think I remember it. "Yeah I think so." I answer.

"Okay good. In surgery, there was a tiny complication and we almost lost you. You flat line for a few seconds but we were able to bring you back." Holy fuck. I almost died. Elena sitting in the car all bloody and unconscious was almost the thing I saw of her, because I almost died. Holy fuck.

"Everything is good now. But you have a pretty bad concussion that will take healing and you will have to stay here for a few days for observations and so the nurse can check on you all the time. Then after that you have to be relaxing a lot and sleeping. You'll have to avoid physical activities like working out or sports, avoid stuff that takes a lot of concentration. Try to do you school work as best as you can, but you'll have a note from me so you'll get more time to do assignments then other students. You won't be able to drive for about a week after you get out of the hospital, just to be safe. The concussion can make you tired at any times so it could make you fall asleep at the wheel. You can't drink any alcohol. I know you're a teenager and you might want to dull the pain but alcohol could make your recovery slower." He explains.

"Okay."

"You were brought in around 12:30am Saturday morning. It's now Monday 5:30am. You've been unconscious for about two days. You'll be able to go home on Wednesday if you lucky if not Thursday. I recommend you don't return to school till the Monday after you return home so you have a few days to heal at home." Doctor Samuels recommends to me.

"Okay Doc." I say quietly.

"I'll prescribe you some pain killers when you leave to help with the headaches. That'll be all for now. I'll come back to check on you in a couple hours." The doctor smiles and walks out of the room.

"Um.. it's good to see you're okay, son. I'm going to go call you grandmother she's very worried." He says awkwardly before leaving the room.

"He hasn't been here since Mom." Stefan says sadly.

"Yeah it must be very hard on him." I say quietly. "Lexi and Matt okay?" I ask.

"Yeah Lexi's fine, Matt's got a broken arm and a minor concussion." He explains.

"Good." I sigh. This could all be my fault. I don't remember what happened during the crash. I don't think I ran a red light but what if I did. I feel so sad just thinking that this could possibly be my fault. Elena could have died.

Stefan must read minds because he says, "It wasn't your fault. The other driver died but they tested his alcohol level and it was pretty high over the driving limit. Plus they looked at the traffic cameras and he obviously ran a red light, it wasn't you." I sigh in relief then I realize the guy died. I frown.

"Who was he? Did he have a family? Kids? Wife?" I ramble.

"He had a wife, who was in the middle of giving him a divorce, I don't know details. He has no kids. I don't know much more. He was probably some alcoholic." He sighs.

"Okay." I say with no emotion. He still died. Doesn't matter if the crash was his fault. I still feel I was partly to blame.

"I'm going to go call Lexi, Klaus and Alaric. Let them know how you're doing. They're worried." He says before leaving the room.

I'm alone with my thoughts. Elena better be okay. Gosh since when have I cared so much? It's not me. Gosh she's so beautiful inside and out. She's such an amazing person. She has a concussion and a broken leg. Oh no! What about cheerleading? She loves doing that for her mother. She has fun. It's her thing to do. And she's amazing at it. Katherine's a bitch she'll probably replace her for the rest of the year because she'll be out for a few weeks. When Elena heals she won't be able to go back to cheerleading cause Katherine would have already replaced her. That'll make her sad. Elena can't be sad she's too generous and amazing to be sad. She shouldn't ever have to be sad. I want to make sure she's never sad. I just don't know if I'm the one for the job. I don't know how.

**Elena's POV**

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

I slowly open my eyes. But my head's pounding and I have a stomach ache. I look to my left and see my mom standing looking out a window. I'm in a hospital room, hooked up to a bunch of machines. What happened?

"Mom." I whisper. She quickly turns around and smiles relief crossing over her face. She rushes over to me and sits in a chair beside my bed.

"Sweetie, how you feeling?" She says with a kind voice.

"My head hurts, and my stomach has a weird fuzzy feeling." I say.

"That feelings a side effect from your pain killers." She explains.

"What happened?"

"You were in a car accident." She says. I suddenly remember everything; going to the movie with Matt, Stefan and Lexi, Damon had to pick us up, I started singing Wannabe by the Spice Girls and then everything was a blurr.

"Is everyone okay?" I ask but really I'm most worried about Damon.

"Matt has a minor concussion and broken arm, Lexi and Stefan walked away with nothing more than some scratches, you and Damon had the worst conditions." She says with a sigh.

"Is Damon going to be okay?" I ask worried, he has to be. He's Damon. Strong as a rock. Or at least that's what he makes everyone think.

"As far as I know; yes. Last time I checked he was still unconscious like you. He had some internal bleeding in the brain and has a concussion. But you don't need to worry, the Doctor should be here soon to check on you." She says.

"Where's Jeremy and Dad?" I ask. Shouldn't they be here?

"They left to go get some breakfast and bring some back for me, the cafeteria food is just horrible." She says playfully. "They should be back soon."

"Okay, how long has it been?" I ask quietly, a little scared about how much I've missed.

"It's Monday. Two days." She says and checks her watch. "It's a little after seven in the morning."

"Okay." I sigh. Just then a doctor in his mid-thirties walks in.

"Hi Elena. It's nice to see you're okay. I'm Doctor Samuels." He introduces while sticking out his hand for me to shake it.

He goes into explaining my surgery and internal bleeding. How my concussion is going to heal and how I'm going to have to stay here until at least Thursday and then I have to make sure I'm always relaxing and being careful about everything I do. He lectures me for a while about the importance of quick healing for both my head and leg.

When he's about to leave I get up the nerve to ask him something I've been wanting to ask since he got into the room. "Are you the doctor taking care of Damon Salvatore?" I ask him quietly and nervously.

He looks at me and smirks kind of like Damon smirk. "Doctor-patient confidentiality." He says simply and looks at my mom with a sorry look. My mom looks at me with a knowing look.

"But I was in the same car accident as him and I just want to know if he's okay and conscious." I say with a pout.

He smiles at me. "He'll be fine, if he relaxes and heals as he's supposed to. He's in the same situation as you except he doesn't have a broken leg. And he woke up a little over an hour ago." He tells me.

"Okay thank you." I smile at him. He leaves and I try to get some rest.

The whole day is really boring and quiet. Jeremy and Dad came back and have been hanging around trying to make me laugh with stupid jokes and now it's past four and I'm really hoping Caroline and Bonnie will stop by soon.

When I starting to fall asleep to some stupid sitcom on the Disney channel that I'm watching on the t.v in my hospital room when I hear the door open.

I look up and see my two best friends walk in with a bouquet of sunflowers, a big get well soon balloon and a cute teddy bear. I smile. They really are the best.

"Elena!" They squealed together.

"Hi guys, how's it been?" I ask.

"Fine we missed you though." Bonnie tells us.

They both walk over to my bed after putting my presents on a table and they sit on either side of me.

"Are you okay?" Caroline say sadly.

"Oh you know me, I'm tough." I say playfully.

"We love you." Bonnie says.

"I love you guys too." I smile.

"So how was your date with Matt, I mean up until the accident?" Caroline says awkwardly.

"Oh, I don't see it going anywhere. We better as friends." I say.

"Oh boo." Caroline pouts.

I laugh. "Have you guys seen Damon?" I ask.

"No. We're not friends with him." Bonnie says.

"Oh."

There's an awkward silence. And I laugh.

"What?" Bonnie looks at me confused.

"I don't know, these pills make me feel weird." I laugh.

"Wow, Elena…" Caroline laughs at me.

"I love you guys." I say again.

"We know." Bonnie smirks. We all laugh. "We got some bad news." Bonnie pouts.

"What?" I say worried.

"Well you know that new girl Rose that moved here a few weeks ago and is in the tenth grade?" Bonnie asks.

"Yeah.." I say not understanding where they are going.

"Well turns out she's got dance experience and was a cheerleader at her old school. Katherine found out you'll not be able to do cheerleading for at least a month cause of your leg and she replaced you with Rose so you're not a cheerleader anymore and you can't try out again till next year." Caroline explains.

I'm furious! "She can't do that. Can she do that?"

"I guess she can. She's the captain. Plus her and Rose are like besties now. Gosh she's a bitch." Bonnie says.

"Of course she's a bitch. She's Katherine Pierce." I say mad. I liked cheerleading.

"Well we better get going, you need your rest." Bonnie smiles. I say bye to my best friends and they leave. I hate Katherine Pierce; I don't understand how Damon would like sleeping with someone like her. Damon. He better be okay. I miss him. But I'm not allowed to move around the hospital. If I was, I would surely go and see him. He could have died. We both could've. But the thought of a world without Damon; I can't even imagine it. A world without his smirk, his laugh, his sarcastic comments, and dirty jokes. He's always been there and I don't know how my life would be the same without him. I may just be in love with him.

**AN: Hope you liked it! Please REVIEW!**


	9. Merry Christmas

**AN: Some of you have said you want delena to get together really soon, but I just don't feel like it's the right time right now. This story is a story made up of events that tell how Damon and Elena fall in love and if I put them together now, the story will be over. I sorry if some people don't like to wait, just please don't give up on this story ever. **

**AN: Sorry if there's any mistakes; I don't have time to edit it. I'm sorry I haven't been updating as fast but I promise I'll always update at least once a week. Hope you like the chapter. It's very fluffy. I love writing this story because it's a really feel good type story. The only problem is Damon has trouble admitting his feelings for Elena. Hope you enjoy the chapter it's pretty long. REVIEW!**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 9: Merry Christmas**

**December 24****th**** 2007 5:15pm**

**Elena's POV**

I love Christmas. Every year my family and the Salvatore's stay together on Christmas eve at one of our houses. We alternate between the houses each year. This year we are at the Salvatore's. I love the years when we are at the Salvatore's, the house is so huge and it's cool to have Christmas here.

We have a tradition every year. We all arrive at whatever house we are staying at that year at 4pm Christmas eve. We start dinner at 5pm; we have Ham on Christmas eve. Then we all relax for a little while as a family or actually two families. Then we have chocolate cream pie for desert that my mom and I make. Then we all help clean up dinner and desert. By seven we all retire in the den to watch a Christmas movie while eating Christmas cookies and hot chocolate. After the movie the adults give all the kids one present as a 'Christmas eve present', usually it's just new pajamas or slippers but it's still fun then we all go to bed. On Christmas morning we all meet up in the den by 7:30 for opening presents afterward everyone makes a huge breakfast together we eat and my mom cooks turkey dinner all day while everyone else does their own thing sometimes together, like watching Christmas movies which Damon and me have been doing since like forever. We usually were never close but on Christmas we watch an all-day marathon because out of our families we are the only ones that love watching Christmas movies all day. This is mine and Damon's Christmas tradition. Sometimes Stefan and Jeremy join but not for the whole day.

Last year, when I was still flat chested and a weirdo we hung out and watched all the Home Alones, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Jack Frost, and the first two Santa Claus movies (we didn't get to the third one because it was dinner time). Although we had lots of fun and I loved being with him the whole day, he still acted like I was his little sister, so that sucked. But this year we've gotten closer so maybe it will be better.

Right now we are silently eating ham, carrots, and mashed potatoes in the Salvatore grand dining room. Giuseppe is the head of the table. I sit beside my mother who sits beside my father across from me is Damon and beside him is Stefan and then my 12 year old brother Jeremy. It's a comfortable silence. The whole house is decorated for Christmas not because Giuseppe decorated it because he doesn't do that. Every year that we've had Christmas here since Elisabeth died my mother brings all of our decorations over the day before Christmas eve and decorates the house so it feels a little bit more homey.

"So Elena how have you been healing?" Giuseppe asks as polite as possible.

"Okay I guess. I haven't been having many headaches lately and I can walk around as long as I'm gentle. My legs healing perfectly." I say politely.

"What about you Damon?" My dad asks.

"Oh I'm great I'm get back to playing football after Christmas break. I barely have headaches anymore and the tiredness as gone down. I feel pretty normal." Damon smiled.

"That's great!" My mom says happy. She's always loved both Damon and Stefan. "I'm so happy nobody was seriously hurt in the accident, well except for the other driver." She says.

"He had it coming to him." Giuseppe says grumpily.

"Dad! You didn't even know him. He could have been going through a really rough time." Damon says disgusted.

"He still shouldn't been driving drunk. He could have killed four fourteen year olds and a sixteen year old. Thank god, he didn't." My dad says trying to create a level ground. It's Christmas, there shouldn't be fighting on Christmas.

"Merry Christmas." I mutter sarcastically. I didn't mean to say it out loud but I did. I'm a teenager, it's natural. My dad looks at me with a warning look. I send him a 'I know, I won't do it again' look.

Damon smirks at my comment and I smile back. I'm so in love. I'm only fourteen but I'm pretty sure I am. After we got out of the hospital the whole five days before we returned to school he spent at my place, we watched movies and played board games and just acted like kids for once. We haven't talked about the kiss but I wish it could happen again. I still haven't told anyone about it. Not even Caroline or Bonnie. I've just haven't had the chance. I'm also scared. It's been two months. Damon doesn't want me. He was drunk and I was the closest girl to him. That was it. But I'm in love with him that's for sure. I know he cares about a lot but I'm pretty sure it doesn't go farther than friends. After we got out of the hospital he was so concerned about me. Always making sure I was okay and not in pain. He somehow felt to blame even though I told him a million times there was no possible way to prevent to accident on his part. It was Jeffery Hanson's (the other driver) fault. When we went back to school he would help me carry my books to classes and talk to me all the time. It eventually died down a few days ago before Christmas break. Everything will soon go back to normal.

We all finish dinner and help bring dishes and food back into the kitchen.

I'm grabbing a drink in the kitchen the rest of the family is relaxing in the living room. I pour my eggnog into a plastic cup and turn around to put the eggnog back when I hit a huge brick like structure. I look up and see Damon's smirk.

"Personal space Damon!" I practically yell.

He laughs. He pulls a little navy blue box with a red bow out of his pocket. "Merry Christmas Elena." He says with a smile and putting the box in my hand. I just stare at it for a while. Shocked. He got me something? "Well, you going to open it?" He smirks.

I open it to see a little blue gem like pendant on a silver necklace chain. I gawk at it in shock. After what feels like hours of staring I say, "It's beautiful." I murmur.

He smiles. "I found it in the attic, I assume it's some old family thing. It remind me of something you would were." He says genuine.

"Thank you so much. But I can't accept this. It probably supposed to be passed down the family." I say even though I really don't want to give it up. It's so beautiful.

"Elena," He smiles. "There's no girl in the family right now to pass it too, plus my mother thought of you as the daughter she always wanted." He smiled at her. "Keep it."

"Okay. It's so pretty." I smile shyly. "Help me?" I ask about the necklace. He takes the necklace and I turn around.

"Hold your hair." He tells me and I hold my hair up like a bun. The feeling of his hands on my neck feels so natural. He fixes the necklace clip. "There, you're good." He smiles.

I let my hair down and turn around. I look down at the necklace on my neck and smile. It looks perfect on me.

"It's perfect. Just right for you." He smiles at the necklace.

"Thanks." I smile. I grab my eggnog and we join the rest in the living room.

After a little while we have desert then clean up. Damon, Stefan and I are doing the dishes while the rest of them put away left overs. I happy Giuseppe hasn't noticed the necklace and hopefully doesn't even know what it is because it will be hard to explain how his son gave me a family heirloom.

Damon's washing dishes, I'm drying and Stefan's putting away. We have a great system. I was handing Stefan the pot my mom cooked the carrots in when I felt something wet hit my back. I turn around and seen that Damon had flicked some soapy water at me, but not very much. He smirk thinking I wouldn't care enough to get revenge, he was wrong.

I scoop some soap bubbles out of the top of his sink and wiped them all over his nose and cheeks. I laughed.

Damon looked pissed. But then started laughing too. The rest of the family had already left the kitchen and Stefan was watching laughing. Damon grabbed some bubbles with both his hands and started tickling my sides and was in a fit of laughter I didn't even notice my mom came in and was watching us by the time we realized she was there we both had bubbles all over ourselves.

We looked at her innocently. "Hi." I say to her. She looks a little mad.

Then she started laughing. "It's good to know you guys aren't growing up too fast." She smiles. Damon, Stefan and I all laugh. "Clean this up fast, change into you pajamas so we can choose a movie." She says before leaving the room with a smile.

**Damon's POV**

Elena. She's curled up into her side of the love seat with her feet partly on my lap. Gosh this girl is growing on me. We are about twenty minutes into 'Christmas with the Kranks'. It's one Christmas movie I've never seen before, which is a shocker. You wouldn't think badass-bad-boy Damon Salvatore would be into corny cheesy Christmas movies, to be honest I probably wouldn't be if it wasn't for Elena since I was nine she's been making us watch them on Christmas and they grew on me. Now they are a tradition.

We are got our hot chocolate and marshmallows and there are Christmas cookies on the coffee table which Elena and Miranda made. They are delicious. In our den there's a long couch that sits three people comfortably which the adults took before the teens even got to the den. Then there are two very comfy bean bag chairs which Jeremy and Stefan took before me and Elena got to the den and then there's a love seat. Love seat. Elena and I got the love seat. It's small and Lena loves the stretch out.

Elena's in these cute Ginger Bread Man cookies pajama pants and a red tang top that says Santa Loves Me. She's so cute. I'm just in plaid pajama pants and a grey v-neck t-shirt. Elena always has the cutest pajamas. She's so interested in the movie she doesn't notice me staring at her, which I've been doing for like ten minutes now. I can't help it. I wish I could be the guy for her but I'm not.

Elena looks at me and catches me staring. I make a goofy face to lighten the mood and she smiles. I love her smile. It's so bright and beautiful. The way it reaches her eyes and makes her eyes sparkle in the perfect light. She's just beautiful. Simple as that. She's always been. It comes natural for her.

She nudges my leg with her foot saying watch the movie with a smirk. With that smirk I get an idea. I grab her foot and she looks at me worried. I smirk at her and gently tickle it. She smiles trying not the laugh. She tries to wiggle her foot out of my hand but I'm stronger than her. I tickle her more and she lets out a small giggle. I let go on her foot right before her mom looks over curiously. Elena smiles innocently at her mom. He mom smiles and goes back to watching the movie.

I start paying attention to the movie as well but I get distracted easily with Elena's feet on my lap and the rest of her body within arm's length.

Now it's just Stefan, Elena and me in the den. The movie ended. It was funny pretty good. The adults gave us our Christmas eve presents. Jeremy got a video game, Stefan got a pair of sponge bob pajamas, I got a pair of ACDC pajamas and Elena got the new Christmas movie 'Unaccompanied Minors' that was out last year. Neither of us have seen it yet but it's supposed to be really good and she looks collecting Christmas movies. We agreed that'll be our first one tomorrow.

Now Jeremy, dad, Miranda and Greyson have all already went to bed. Jeremy is bunking with Stefan, Miranda and Greyson are sleeping in the guest suite on the main floor (best guest room) and Lena is staying in a guest room upstairs. For some reason dad put her in the room beside the game room and across the hall from me. More temptation.

Now we are all just joking and taking walks down childhood memory lane. Stefan and I grab some of the dishes for the living room and bring them to the kitchen so they can be washed tomorrow. When we get back we see an adorable brunette with brown eyes lying on the long couch curled up in the fetal position sleeping. She's so adorable.

"Guess she was tired." Stefan smiles and goes over to wake her up but I stop him.

"No. Don't. If you wake her now she'll have trouble getting back to sleep and it's already midnight." I say.

"Well do you expect for her to sleep down here?" Stefan asks.

"No, one of us has to carry her upstairs." I explain.

"Well you do it, you're stronger. I'm going to bed goodnight." He says before walking up the stairs.

Okay so, I have to carry Elena up to bed. No problem. Right? I have no physical problem with it. I can lift her. It's just my feelings that are the problem.

I walk over to her and stand in front of her. I smile. She's pure. She's good and innocent. I can't ruin her. I know she has feeling for me it's pretty obvious; but I can't be selfish. She deserves better. I'm not her type. I sleep around. I drink lots of alcohol. I party. I'm a sixteen year old wreck. I have been since my mother died. I'm messed up. And she's not. She's pretty amazing. I gently run my hand across her cheek. She's so soft.

I bend over and life her up bridal style. She stirs a little wondering what's going on probably. "Shh, it's just me. I'm taking you to your bed." I whisper quietly in her ear. She nods and buries her face into my chest. I love the feeling.

I carry her out the stairs to her guest bedroom. I walk into the light blue colored room. There's a queen size bed in the middle of the room with two end tables on each side with dark wood. There's a dresser that matches the end tables. The bedding is a thick light blue plush comforter with matching sheets and pillow cases. I fold back the comforter and sheets using only one arm while the other arm holds Elena to my chest. I set her down on the bed with her head falling onto the pillow. She has a smile on her face and it's adorable. I gently take off her socks knowing well that she hates sleeping with socks on. I cover her up with the sheets and blankets and tuck them into her so she's warm.

I stand back and admire her. She's laying on her side with one of her arms under her pillow. She's so cute when she's sleeping. I'm falling hard. And this is the first time I'm admitting it to myself.

She has her perfect smile on her face and it makes me happy just seeing her smiling. I bend over and kiss her forehead gently so I don't wake her. "Goodnight Lena, sweetdreams." I whisper before heading out the door. Right when I get to the door I hear her mumble, "Night Damon." I smile before leaving her to a full night of sleep.

I arrive in my room and I sigh. I can't admit it to anyone but myself but I'm falling for little Elena Gilbert. She's fourteen. I'm turning seventeen in two months and a really bad influence on her. I have to still away from her. I'll still be her friend but nothing more. I lie down on my queen bed. I turn off my bedside lamp. And I fall asleep thinking of Elena.

I hear my door creak open and I'm hoping whoever it is will leave so I can get back to sleep. I open my eyes to see Jeremy, Stefan and last my not least Elena walking into my room staring at me. I groan and put a pillow over my face. They have been doing this every year since I was eleven. Christmas was my mother favourite holiday and even though every Christmas since she's died I still enjoy it and still have my movie marathon with Elena, Christmas morning is always hard. Before my mother died she would always wake me up at 6am by jumping on my bed and singing Christmas music. God I miss her. So ever since she died these three come in early trying to cheer me up before I leave my bed.

Elena walks over to my bed and sits beside me. "Merry Christmas." She smiles kindly.

I look over at my alarm clock and see it's 6:50am. I groan. Both the Gilberts and my family has always liked getting up really early on Christmas. I hate it. I want more sleep.

"Merry Christmas." Both Stefan and Jeremy say from the side of my bed.

"Hi." I say to them with a frown.

"Cheer up." Elena says and I notice she's wearing her necklace I gave her. It's beautiful on her. I hope to see her wearing it a lot. When I don't cheer up Elena starts tickling my sides. I start laughing even though I don't want to. I grab her wrists to stop her and I look her dead in the eye with a serious face.

"Stop." I tell her.

She smiles sadly. "Please cheer up." She looks me in the eye with a pleading stare.

I sit up and smile at her. "Merry Christmas, bestie." I say playfully.

"Thank you." She mouths and stands up. "He's back." She says to Jeremy and Stefan. It's always been Elena that makes me come back the normal self.

"Of course he is. You asked." Stefan says with a smirk to Elena.

I ignore him and get up. Walking towards my bathroom. I slash some water from my sink in my face to wake me up. I relieve myself. Then I brush my teeth and wash my hands. When I arrive back in my room. Elena is sitting on my bed and there's no sign of Stefan or Jeremy.

"Where'd they go?" I ask walking over to my dresser and pulling up a different t-shirt to change into cause the one I have is a little smelly from sleeping in it.

"Um, they went to join the fam, I told them I would wait for you. You know, to make sure everything is okay." She says a little nervous.

I take my shirt off with my back to her and turn around to look at her. She's staring at my chest in shock. She's seen it before. "Everything's fine Lena." I smile at her. "I got you to distract me today." I say and I curse at myself because that sounded like something different from what I meant. I smile at her awkwardly before putting on my other shirt.

She smiles at me. "I know today is hard for you every year." She says sincerely.

"I was just tired this morning, that's the only reason I was grumpy." I say denying what everyone knows.

"Damon." She says with a look that says 'you don't have to lie'. "Today was your mothers favourite day of the year. And I know how hard it is every year. You don't have to deny it." She says.

I smile at her and walk over to her. I'm standing inches away from her. "Thank you Elena, for caring. But I'll be fine. Just like I am every year." I smile and pull her into my arms for a hug without even thinking. It's a friendly hug. I have my arms around the small of her back and she has her arms around my shoulders.

"She was an amazing woman. I miss her." She says while pulling away.

"Me too." I smile at her and grab her hand intertwining our fingers. "Come on. They are waiting for us to open presents." I smirk. I pull her out of the room and downstairs. I let go of her hand before we reach the living room so nobody gets the wrong idea.

Jeremy and Stefan are already sitting with their stockings in their laps in front of the Christmas tree. Our parents are all sitting up on the couch and there are presents all around the tree. Elena and I sit down and grab our stockings.

In our stockings there are looks of candy. We start opening our presents which are movies, video games, board games, money and some clothes. Elena got a cell phone from her parents that was all hooked up and ready and I instantly grabbed it and put my number in it and put her number in my phone. Elena got her baby brother a new video game and Stefan a picture frame with them in it from their middle school graduation before they started drifting apart. She didn't get me anything and it doesn't hurt because I want a present it just hurts because I thought she cared enough to get me something.

We had fun laughing and opening presents and I act like nothing's wrong. Then the adults went into the kitchen to cook breakfast, we offer to help like we usually do but they said we don't have to. Jeremy and Stefan went up to the game room to try out some of their new video games, I got some two but I don't feel like playing them right now. I went and put my presents in my room and now I'm sitting by myself in the living room admiring the fire in the fire place.

Elena comes into the room and some sweat pants and a log sleeve pink t-shirt. With her arms around her back like she's hiding something. "What you got behind your back?" I ask with a playful tone.

"Something." She smiles nervously and comes and sits beside me but not enough where I can see wants behind her back.

"Come on, what is it?" I say trying to reach behind her back but she turns so I can't.

"I got you something for Christmas." She smiles nervously. I smile at her. Whatever she got me is probably amazing. "I'm nervous because it took me a long time to figure out what to get you." She is so nervous, it's so adorable.

"What is it? I'm sure I'll love it." I say nonchalantly.

"Well I remember you telling me a few weeks ago about how you found an old record player in your attic that works but the only records up there was some old jazz music." She says and I smile. She got me a record? "Here." She brings her arms around from behind her back. In her hands is a thin big square the size of a record wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper with a bow. She hands it to me and I smile. "Open it."

I rip all the paper off of the record to reveal the ACDC album 'Highway to Hell'. I smile. It's used of course since they don't make records anymore but even though it's used, it's in almost perfect condition.

"Do you like it?" She asks nervously.

"Does it look like I like it?" I ask with a very bright smile.

"Yay." She smiles. "I love your smile." She says but then looks awkward because she said it and looks down into her lap. I set the record on the coffee table.

I laugh lightening the mood. "Thank you. I love it." I put my arm around her so she leans into me with her head on my shoulder. "Merry Christmas Lena."

"Merry Christmas Damon." She smiles up at me. I have a urge to kiss her but I don't because it's not right. I stand up and grab my record. "So what do you say we start on the marathon?" I look at the wall clock and says it's 9:30. "I'll go put this in my room, you can go get the movies and we'll meet in the den in ten minutes?" I ask she nods and we head in separate directions.

**Elena's POV **

_Dear Diary,_

_Woah, today was Christmas. Christmas is one of my favourite days of the year. Every year we do our tradition. This year it was at the Salvatore's. Damon gave me my present last night when we were both away from everyone. He gave me a light blue gem like pendent on a silver necklace chain. It's beautiful and I'm going to wear it all the time. I'm wearing it right now. Damon loved my record I got him which makes me really happy. We spent the whole day watching movies. We started with Unaccompanied Minors which I got for Christmas, we both loved it. It was a feel good movie that made us laugh. We then watched Santa Claus 1&2 and Home Alone 1&2. Then we watched Jack Frost before dinner. We had dinner as a family. Both our families. We had ice cream and pie as desert. We all helped cleaning up before my parents, Jer and I came home. I had a shower and put away all my stuff. I played around on my cell phone, learning how to do things on it. Called Caroline and Bonnie. Turns out Caroline got a cell phone as well and we are really happy we can text each other all the time. Bonnie feels left out because she didn't get one but she has no reason to she's still our best friend. I'm so happy. This was a great Christmas. I loved it. Merry Christmas Diary.  
Love, Elena _

I put my diary down on my end table bedside my lamp. I turn my lamp off and grab my cell phone off of the table. I flip it open and text Caroline. Telling her I still have feelings for Damon and they won't go away. She says I should follow my heart. And I should. But not now. It's not the right time. My phone beeps signaling a new text, I assume its Caroline and open it up.

**From: Damon**

_Hey ;) You up?_

I smile at his text. He's texting me.

**To: Damon**

_Yeah :) What's up?_

I stare at my phone for two minutes waiting for a reply. When it beeps I practically jump with excitement.

**From: Damon **

_Wanna hang out New Year's?_

Is that him asking me out? What should I say? My phone beeps signaling another text.

**From: Damon**

_I mean as friends. :) _

Well that answers my question. I frown. That's all we'll ever be. _Friends_.

**To: Damon**

_Sure :) I would love to. Where?_

I act like I'm not frowning and wanting to crawl into a hole and die. Beep.

**From: Damon**

_I thought we could just hang out here. Watch movies into the New Year. Like you usually do with Stefan. He's got a date with Lexi that night._

Yeah that makes me even sadder. I barely ever hang out with Stefan anymore. He's always with Lexi.

**To: Damon**

_Sure :) That will be fun. Can't wait._

It will be fun. It's always fun to hang out with Damon. But I wish it was as more than friends.

**From: Damon**

_Sweetdreams, Lena._

_Lena. _I love that nickname. I smile.

**To: Damon**

_Goodnight :)_

I fall asleep just like last night; thinking of Damon. The man I love.

**AN: IF YOU LIKED IT PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP REVIEW!  
****REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**** * INNOCENT SMILES ***


	10. 2008

**AN: Thank you all who reviewed. I didn't think I would have this ready so fast but I did so your welcome. **** Hope you like it. Please review, they inspire me especially the long ones. *HINT***

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 10: 2008**

**December 31****st**** 2007 5:50pm**

**Elena's POV**

I grab my bag off my bed which contains a tooth brush, tooth paste, pajamas, another outfit, some action movies and romantic comedies, my diary, some painkillers in case I get a head ache, my brush and cell phone.

I'm aloud to sleep over at Damon's only because my parents have known Damon most of his life and they don't expect anything is going on between us, they think we are just friends which technically we are. I have to sleep in the guest room I slept in on Christmas but still. The Grill is having their annual New Year's party which Stefan is taking Lexi too; he won't be home till close to 1:00am. Giuseppe is going to be at my place with my parents having drinks. So it's just going to be Damon and me in the house for most of the night and it kind of freaks me out.

I quickly look in my mirror to make sure I look okay. I'm wearing dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a light blue hoodie since I'm just walking next door and it's not freezing out. I straightened my hair and have mascara, eye liner and lip gloss on. I look normal. That's all I need.

Damon said he'll cook for us and that I should be over there by 6:00pm. I look at the clock and see it's 5:52pm. So I turn off my lights and walk down stairs. I see my parents and Giuseppe in the living room talking with beers in their hands.

"Hey." My mom says. "You leaving?" She asks.

"Mhmm." I nod.

"You got everything?"

"Yes, mom." I say playfully.

"Okay well don't stay up too late." My dad says.

"Dad, it's new year's eve. We have to stay up late." I say with my teenager attitude.

"I know but don't stay up too much past midnight." He says protectively.

I roll my eyes. "Okay well bye, love you guys. Happy New Year's Giuseppe." I say politely.

"You too." Giuseppe smiles.

I leave the house and make my way over to the Salvatore mansion.

**Third Person's POV**

As soon as Elena left the house Giuseppe looks over at the Gilbert parents. "You don't think there's anything going on between Elena and Damon, do you?" He asked both of them.

"No!" Greyson said really fast but then thought about it. "Oh no." He said slowly.

"I've had suspicions about Elena having a crush on him for about a year now but I don't think anything is going on right now, maybe in the future." Miranda says unsure.

"Damon is a trouble maker, I know for a fact he sleeps around with girls all the time. I don't know if them being together could help Damon or destroy Elena." Giuseppe says.

"Well I'm sure there's nothing to worry about tonight. So let's enjoy the new year." Miranda suggested.

"Okay." Greyson says hesitant because he's worried about his baby girl.

**Elena's POV**

I'm standing in front of the Salvatore mansion's front door, I check my watch and it's 6:02, perfect timing. I knock on the door and hear foot-steps coming towards it. He opens the door and looks at me with a genuine smile which I've been seeing more and more lately.

He's in dark jeans and a grey button up shirt. He's hot. I smile back at him. "Happy New Year's!" He says excited. Is it just me or is he changing? The past few months he has seemed happier.

"Happy New Year's Damon." I say while walking in the house. I set my bag down inside the front door and follow him to the kitchen.

When we arrive in the kitchen I see he's making homemade tomato sauce and pasta. "I'm making spaghetti." He says with a smile while going to check on the boiling spaghetti noodles.

"I didn't know you knew how to cook. I mean I thought you cooked the basics like Grilled Cheese and Kraft Dinner." I say playfully from the doorway.

"Yeah well I'm not one to brag. You know how my mom was teaching me basic stuff before the accident, well since Dad doesn't cook; I kind of taught myself since Stefan and me are growing boys and we need home cooked meals every now and then." He explains.

"That's great. So do you need any help?" I ask because I love being helpful.

"Nope, it's pretty much done. Just sit and wait." He says behind the island. I sit down at one of the stools at the island.

"So why did you want to hang out with me? I mean you could've just played video games with Ric like you usually do." I ask.

"Well a lot has changed since last year. I mean, you were best friends with Stefan and did everything with him now he's always with Lexi. And Ric and Jenna have plans tonight; Ric thinks it might be _'the night'_." He explains with a smirk.

"Ohh, too much information!" I winced. He laughs. "You still didn't tell me why you wanted to hang out with me, last year you wouldn't have."

"Like I said, a lot has changed with in the last year. I consider you my friend now." He says with a genuine smile. I smile back.

"So what movies do you want to watch tonight? I brought a few over."

"Any horror?" He asks.

"No! It's new year's. If you wanted to watch horror movies with me, you should have done it on Halloween." I say playful.

"We didn't watch any movies on Halloween." He says serious.

"Yeah." I say trying to end this conversation before it starts. "So do you guys have any horror movies?"

"Um we got The Grudge, The Ring, Nightmare on Elm Street and a few other ones." He says off the top of his head while dishing spaghetti on plates.

"We could watch both of those and then after midnight we'll still have time for a comedy." I smile.

"Great." He passes a plate full of spaghetti over to me and then comes around the island and sits beside me with his own plate.

After taking just one bite I moan. I freaking moaned. It was so good I couldn't help myself. He looks at me with an uncomfortable smirk. "Sorry, it's just so delicious." I say.

"Well thank you. It is pretty good." He smiles.

After we are done eating, he rinses our plates and puts them in the dish washer. "Okay so you want me to go set up in the den while you put away left overs?" I ask.

"Um, I thought we could hang out in my room instead. My beds more comfortable and I'm planning on drinking; if my dad comes home early he'll come into the den before I have a chance to hide the alcohol." He smirks.

"Oh okay, that's fine." I smile even though I'm freaked out about being in Damon's room all night.

He puts away the left overs. We go into the den and he grabs the three horror movies that we settled on. We make our way up stairs while I stopped to grab my bag.

We arrive in his room and he goes straight to his dresser and brings out a bottle of bourbon. "I didn't know if you wanted to drink after last time but I have a bottle of vodka and I can go downstairs and get something for you to mix it if you want?" He says kind of awkwardly.

"Um.." I say thinking about it. I don't know if I should after what happened last time but it was fun at least. If I drink I just have to know not to drink too much. I can drink without getting drunk. "What the heck, sure. Just don't get me drunk this time." I say playful.

"Okay I'll be right back; you know how to set up the movie?" He asks.

"Yeah, which one?" I ask.

"Um, let's start out with Nightmare on Elm Street, it's the least scariest." He smirks before leaving the room.

I put the movie in the DVD player and turn the t.v on. I skip through the previews to the main menu and then I lie down on his bed; well half lying, half sitting. I have most of my back up against the head board. A couple minutes later he comes in with a plastic cup, a bottle of ginger ale and a bottle of fruit punch.

"Fruit punch, ginger ale and vodka is a great mix, trust me." He smiles. He walks over to his dresser and mixes me the drink probably knowing I won't know the right proportions to put in it. When he's done he comes over and sits down beside me the same way I'm sitting, he passes me my drink and has his bottle of bourbon in his other hand. Does he always drink out of the bottle?

I take a sip of the drink and it is really good. "Thanks, this is really good." I say to him.

"No problem." He says while pressing play on the movie. I look at his alarm clock; it's barely 7:00, this is going to be a long night.

**Damon's POV**

There's 15 minutes to midnight and we still have about forty minutes until to Grudge is done so we paused it and put on t.v so we can watch the ball drop. In 15 minutes it will be 2008 and I have a feeling it's going to be a good year. I smile at Elena. "You were pretty freaked out while watching The Ring." I tease. We finished Nightmare on Elm Street around eight thirty and since The Ring is 2 and a half hours long we didn't finish it till 11.

"Shut up. That's a creepy movie." She smirks. We haven't gotten drunk yet which is good, Elena just had two drinks and then just had ginger ale and I've been drinking slowly. I really don't want a Halloween repeat. Even though I would love to make-out with Elena like we did on Halloween, we can't I would just end up hurting her in the end.

She gets up and walks over to my bathroom. This feels so domestic; watching movies to bring in the New Year with Elena. I just wish she could be my girlfriend. Wait. WHAT! No. This cannot be happening. I was cool with liking the girl and even maybe falling for her but now I want her to be my girlfriend. I don't do girlfriends. I'm too selfish. I'm an asshole. A dick. I got problems. I can't have a girlfriend for so many reasons, I don't want to mess them up or break their heart. I know I would. That's why I do one night stands and fuck buddy relationships like with Katherine. I thought I could be friends with Elena and just push my feelings for her away but I don't know if that will work now.

She comes back in with 5 minutes till midnight. "Pass it over." She says pointing to my bottle. I groan. This is how she got drunk last time.

"I don't know if that's a good idea." I say serious.

"I just want a drink to bring in the New Year." She pouts while sitting down on the bed beside me.

"Oh, so you wanna do shots at midnight instead?" One shot can't do too much harm right.

"Sure."

I reach into my second drawer in my night stand behind some sports magazines are a box where I keep condoms and behind that is where I keep a few shot glasses. I bring out two.

I set them down on my nightstand and fill them both up with bourbon out of my bottle. We got two minutes till midnight.

"So we'll listen to the count down and instead of watching the ball drop we'll each do a shot." I say passing a shot to her.

I look at the t.v and see Ryan Seacrest saying there less than a minute and the little timer in the bottle right hand corner says 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39.

"This is it; here comes 2008." Elena says with a giant smile.

I smile back at her. This is the first year I've ever spent New Year's with her, every other year, she hangs out with Stefan and I play video games with friends.

Mason and Tyler Lockwood have been throwing big New Year's parties for the past three years and that's where Elena's friends are probably but I've never gone since I hate that family. They are a family of bullies.

"12.. 11.. 10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.." Elena counts down with the t.v.

"4.. 3.. 2." I join in.

"1!" Elena and I both scream and we both quickly take our shots. I smile at her face. This is probably her first shot. God I love this girl. What!? Oh my god.

We laugh. We both drop our empty shot glass on the bed and look at the t.v, it's showing a whole bunch of happy couples kissing to bring in the New Year.

I look at Elena and we both intensely stare at each other. Before we both lean in slowly for a gentle, sweet and loving kiss on the lips. I can feel that the feelings I have are mutual but that doesn't mean I should act on them. It just makes it easier for me to hurt her if I ever truly act on them.

The kiss doesn't last long. It's a simple kiss to bring in the New Year but it's filled with love. I don't think either of us was planning it. I mean you can bring in the New Year without kissing anyone; this is the first year I've ever kissed anyone on New Year's.

We look at each other with small smiles.

"Happy New Year Lena." I whisper just an inch from her face.

"Happy New Year." She smiles.

My phone beeps from my night stand. I sit back and stand up not liking the distance from Elena.

I open up my text and read it.

**From: Katherine**

_Where r u? I know you don't like the Lockwood's but I wish you were here to bring in the New Year with me. ;)_

She probably want's some New Year's sex. I sigh and quickly reply.

**To: Katherine**

_Sorry, hanging with Elena tonight._

Everyone at school knows Elena and I are good friends, especially since I was with her all the time after the accident. I don't think anyone suspects anything. I mean they probably think I think of her as my little sister.

My phone beeps again.

**From: Katherine **

_Seriously what's with you and her? She's just some minor niner._

I reply kind of angrily.

**To: Katherine**

_I've known her most of my life. She's like a little sister to me. Happy New Year's Kat._

I set my phone down not caring if Katherine replies or not and look up to see Elena looking at me curiously.

"Oh, sorry. Kat was texting me." I explain.

She looks a little sad for a moment and then smiles. "Okay. Wanna watch the rest of The Grudge?" She asks.

"Yeah." I smile at her.

**Elena's POV**

It's almost 2:30am. We heard Giuseppe and Stefan come home around one but neither of them came to check on us. We just finished the kid's comedy movie 'Big Fat Liar' which I went and saw in the theaters a couple years ago with Stefan.

Damon laughs. "That movie never gets old." He smirks.

"Nope it doesn't." I grab my cup of ginger ale and finish it off. "Well I should be getting to bed."

"Yeah. It's late." He says. I get up and grab the movie out of the DVD player and put it in its case and back in my bag. "Tonight was fun." Damon smiles at me.

"Yeah, I'm fun the hang out with." I smirk.

Damon laughs. "Goodnight Elena." He says from his bed while I walk towards the door and turn before leaving. I look at him with a genuine smile and he smiles back.

"Goodnight Damon." I simply say before leaving and walking the short distance to my guest room. When I get inside I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He kissed me. Or I kissed him. Either way he kissed me back. And we weren't drunk. I smile.

I change into my pajamas and brush my teeth in the bathroom across the hall. I grab my diary and pen out of my bag and lay down on the bed.

_Dear Diary,_

_Tonight was New Year's Eve. I spent it with Damon. It's was amazing. He made spaghetti for dinner then we watch three horror movies in a row. And at midnight we watched the ball drop. But instead we listened to the count down and at the stroke of midnight we took bourbon shots. Afterwards we got swept up in the moment and he kissed me. It was simple, gentle, sweet and loving. It didn't last very long but I could tell he had feelings for me, he's just scared to admit it. Afterwards our faces were inches apart and we just smiled at each other and wished each other happy new year. Then we watch Big Fat Liar and before I left to go to bed we had this moment; we smiled at each other and said goodnight. The moment just felt so special. I feel like I'm in a chick flick movie. And hopefully it has a happy ending. I love Damon Salvatore. _

I set my diary down on the night stand beside the bed and turn off the lamp. Tonight was amazing! I'm sure to dream of Damon tonight.

**AN: Sorry it's shorter than some chapters hope you liked it. **** Please review. I 3 reviews, especially long ones, they inspire me to write faster and longer chapters. **** 3 **


	11. The Roadtrip

**AN: SORRY for any mistakes, it's 1am where I am and I really want to get it to you before I go to bed but I don't have time to proof read. SORRY for the delay. I had too much on my plate the past two weeks. But the chapter is my longest one for the story. It's about 8000 words. Hope you like it! Also sorry for the big time jump, I tried writing stuff between New Year's and summer but I just couldn't get a great like this one. **

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 11: The Roadtrip**

**July 7****th**** 2008 5:45am**

**Elena's POV**

_Holy Shit._ I think lying in bed on this beautiful Saturday morning. Why am I awake? And why can't I fall back to sleep.

I can't believe a year ago today I was counting down the days for Damon to return from Italy so that I could show how much I've grown up. I wanted to show him how much I've matured and how I'm so much different. But thinking back I feel like I was a kid back then. Seriously? I asked him to flirt with me to make Stefan jealous in hoping I made Damon jealous. What was I thinking? I should have just became his friend and slowly hoped he falls in love with me. Which might have happened anyway. We're best friends now. I mean I hang out with him more than any of my other friends including Caroline and Bonnie. I've barely seen them at all since summer vacation started 3 weeks ago. Which kind of makes me sad but I've been busy with Damon.

We go on day trips everywhere. We've went to the falls a whole bunch of times. We've had movie days on rainy days. We've went on fun little trips to Richmond to go window shopping which Damon doesn't really like. We've gone on a hike in the woods outside on town. We've done lots of things but it's not flirty anymore. Ever since New Year's this year, he doesn't flirt with me or tease me. It's strictly friendly. Like he acts like my older brother which I hate. What happened? He kissed me on New Year's. Or I kissed him? I don't really know. But it was mutual. And ever since he's all brotherly and protective.

I had a huge party at the Salvatore's for my 15th birthday a month ago and a whole bunch of people came. It was just as big as Jenna's sweet sixteen which was surprise. I think it's because everyone knows me through Damon, plus I was a really good cheerleader and I'm that girl that could have died in a car accident last December. Anyway I was dancing with Kol Mikaelson whose kind of a creep for his age but he's hot and he asked me to dance so I agreed and Damon was all protective and pulled me away from him and brought me upstairs to talk. Anyway I thought he might have been jealous which kind of excited me but then I realized that wasn't it at all.

_Flashback:_

_Damon pulled Elena upstairs to the hallway outside of his bedroom and looked kind of angry and sad. He didn't like how Elena was dancing with Kol, she was 15 and she was grinding and acting kind sluty. That wasn't Elena. But she had been drinking a little._

"_Why were you dancing like that?" He practically growls._

"_I don't know. I was having fun." She said innocently._

"_Well, that kind of dancing gives guys the wrong opinions of you. They'll soon think of you like they think of Andy Starr. Even her name sounds like a porn star." He said a little nicer, trying to be calm._

_Elena only nodded._

"_God, Elena. I care about you, like a sister." Damon lied and she looked a little sad before she quickly covered it up with a nod. "And I don't want guys taking advantage of you." He said sweetly._

"_I can take care of myself Damon." She said practically emotionless before walking away quickly back downstairs._

_End of Flashback._

Damon thinks of me as a sister. What could be worse? I never have a shot with him now. He's seventeen, I'm fifteen. I have no shot. So I'll be his friend or best friend for that matter and move on. Maybe I can find a new guy to date. Most guys in Mystic Falls are douche bags but there are some nice ones.

I roll over on my side and look out my window. It's early but beautiful. The suns shinning, the birds are chirping and the flowers are bright. I love this time of year, it was the same time of year that the Salvatore's moved to town; when I became best friends with Stefan and was on a mission to be Damon's friend. The little boy with raven black hair and gorgeous icy blue eyes that I'd eventually fall in love with. Damon Salvatore. His name sounds so professional. It doesn't sound like a seven year old boys name but it was, 10 years ago.

I hear my door open and someone walks in. I have my back to the door but I assume it's my mom. I feel someone sit down on the other side of my bed and they don't move. I just lie here still not knowing who it could be. My mom would wake me up.

I roll over and see Damon lying there with part of his back perched up on my headboard. He has my teddy bear in his hands and he's smirking at it. "Damon, get out of my bed." I say tiredly with my eyes half open. I snuggle into my pillow.

"Woah, that's the first time a girl has ever said that to me." He smirked. Wait. My eyes go wide. Was that a tease? He's joking with me about sex. That's different. There's definitely something different about him today.

"What are you doing here so early?" I groan.

"Well, it's a beautiful day. I thought we could get an early start." He says.

"It's six in the morning." I say.

"Well, you have permission from you parents to come on a road trip somewhere with me." He smiles.

"Seriously!" I say kind of shocked. "My parents gave permission to that." I can't believe they are allowing me to go on a road trip with Damon. Lately they've been hesitant about us hanging out. They think we might me sneaking around. I wish.

"Yeah. I had to practically beg them. We are going somewhere a long drive from here and we are coming back tomorrow."

"Where are we going to stay?" I ask loudly.

"You'll find out. Pack an overnight bag; clothes, cute pajamas." He says with a smirk.

"Shut up." I say and try to hide my blush but smile.

He laughs. "Shower, you stink." He says and gets up from the bed. I look at him offended. "I'm just kidding. Get ready. I'll be downstairs. Be down by seven." He said with a smirk. He leaves and I sit up. I look at the alarm clock and see its 6:10am. I great up and walk into the bathroom to have a shower.

**Damon's POV **

I'm in the living room in front of Greyson and Miranda Gilbert waiting for Elena to get ready. This is incredibly awkward. Elena's parents don't exactly trust me that much. I don't understand it they've known me most of my life. They've watched me grow up. "I promise we'll be back by tomorrow afternoon. We are going to be staying at my grandmother's. My mom's mother, the one that grew up here." I say trying to reassure them.

My Grandma wanted me to come up for a visit this summer and I know how much Elena's always wanted to visit New York City so I thought I would bring her with me. It has nothing to do with wanting Elena to meet my Grandma, my favourite relative. Right?

"And you'll be sleeping in separate rooms?" Greyson asked again. We went over all this before I went and woke Elena up.

"Elena and I aren't together, why would we sleep in the same room?" I asked innocently. I have no intension on taking advantage of Elena. I simply want to show her New York City. I lived there till I was seven and after that I've been visiting at least once a year to see my Grandma Lucy.

"It's just you've guys have gotten a lot closer in the past year and it seems like it just started when Elena matured. So Greyson and I just aren't sure what your intensions are." Miranda said in a kind voice.

"Yes Elena and I have become closer since she matured, but that's only because I've seen her act older and I now enjoy hanging out with her as a friend. That's what we are. Only friends, I promise." I say politely.

"Okay, Damon. So it's about a six hour drive right?" Miranda asked.

"Yeah, hopefully without traffic we can arrive at my Grandma's around 2 o'clock. We won't have time to sight see but hopefully she'll see lots when driving to my Grandma's." He smiled.

Elena's parents just smiled awkwardly. This is awkward.

I love Elena. That's obviously to me now. I'm in love with her. But it's not like I can do anything about it. I have to have her in my life somehow and if my being a brotherly figure is the way to do it, I have to suck it up and try not to touch her inappropriately any chance I get. I've been good. I seriously think she's starting to believe I only think of her as a friend or sister which is good. She has to think that so she can move on and find a good guy for her even though the thought of her with another guy makes me want to throw up. I can't be selfish with her.

I hear footsteps on the stairs and look up to see Elena walking down them with a backpack. Her hair is wet from the shower so it'll dry normally and it'll be wavy. I love her hair wavy. She's wearing blue jeans shorts and a white V-neck slightly see through shirt, she has a black tank top underneath it. She looks very casual without any makeup.

She looks at us and smiles. "Good morning." She says to her parents. She goes to the closet and grabs a pair our strappy sandals and puts them on then she grabs a pair of sneakers and stuffs them in her backpack.

She walks over to me and stands in front of me. "I'm ready." She smiles. I stand up and check the time on a clock on the wall. It's five minutes to seven. Right on schedule.

"Okay we can pick up some breakfast on the road. Have a nice day Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert." I smile politely.

Elena gives a quick hug to both her parents and kisses her dad on the cheek. "I love you both." She smiled. They smiled back and told her they loved her too.

I grab her backpack and Elena follows me out of the house and too my car. I open to passenger down for her and close it when she's inside the car. I then put her backpack in the backseat and go around the car to my side and get in.

"So are you going to tell me where we are going and where we are staying?" Elena asks me as I start my Camaro up.

"You'll find out." I smirk as I drive away from our houses.

"Come on! I really want to know." She pouted.

"I'll tell you that it's a place where you've always wanted to go." I say.

"How long a drive is it?" She asks.

"I'm not saying." I laugh.

"Fine, when are we going to stop for breakfast?" She asked still pouting.

"Not for like an hour, just go to sleep. I'll wake you when we stop." He said driving onto a highway.

"Okay." She said sleepily before leaning her head on the window beside her and closing her eyes.

**Elena's POV**

"Elena.." I hear a soothing voice break me out of my sleep. I blink my eyes open and look around. I'm with Damon in his car and parked in front of a little diner in what looks like a small town. I'm going on a road trip with Damon. I smile. But where is he taking me.

"Where are we?" I ask with a raspy voice.

"In a small town. Now come on and let's eat." He smiles. He's in a really good mood today. I follow him out of the car and into the small family style diner. We sit down across from each other in a booth.

I pull out my cell phone to check the time. It's 8:15am. I see I have an unread text.

**From: Caroline**

_Hey! Wanna hang out today? I'm going to go to the swim hole to meet Bonnie, Tyler and Matt around noon? Wanna come with us?_

I sigh. My friends probably think I'm horrible.

"What?" Damon asks hearing me sigh but he doesn't look up from the menu he's looking at.

"Caroline wants to hang out today. I haven't seen my friends all summer." I frown.

"Well hang out with them Monday or tomorrow after we get back." He suggests.

"Yeah." I sigh.

**To: Caroline**

_Sorry :( I'm on a road trip with Damon. We won't be back till tomorrow afternoon. _

I reply with a frown. I really miss them. But I'm so excited to find out where Damon's taking me.

**From: Caroline**

_Ouu.. That's adorable. Where you guys going?!_

I smirk. _Caroline_. I think shaking my head. Both Caroline and Bonnie think Damon's in love with me or something and just isn't acting on it because he knows it'll be really messy with our families so close and him older. But I just think he thinks of me as a sister and nothing more.

**To: Caroline**

_He won't tell me. And it's not adorable. We're just friends, sadly._

I reply. I grab the menu and see that their Saturday special is bacon and eggs, I'll just get that. A pretty blonde waitress, looking to be about Damon's age walks over to us.

"Hi, I'm Wendy." She smiles a little too big at Damon. Gosh, can she be any more obvious. "What can I get you?" She asks him practically ignoring Elena.

"I'll have the BLT and home fries." He smiles back at her.

"What would you like to drink?" She asks flirty.

"Orange juice please." He turns his head towards me. "What would you like?" He smiles at me.

"Um, the Saturday special with scrambled eggs and orange juice." I say politely to the waitress.

She scrambles down our orders on a notepad. "Okay I'll be right back with your drinks." She smiles before walking away slightly shaking her hips but Damon doesn't notice.

"She can't be more obvious." I mumble.

"What do you mean?" He questions with a smirk.

"She was totally flirting with you." I say grumpily.

"My, my. Is Elena Gilbert jealous?" He asks with a smirk.

"No." I deny. "And what have gotten into you today. You're acting so different." I say.

"I don't know." He says softly before leaning back in his chair and grabbing a newspaper to look at. I grab my phone again and check it for a text and I see I have a new one from Caroline.

**From: Caroline**

_Aww that's adorable. He's surprising you. ;)_

I laugh out loud and shake my head.

"What?" Damon asks me with a serious expression. _Wendy _brings our juice's over and gives Damon a flirty smile.

"Oh, nothing. Just Caroline joking around." I laugh nervously.

"Okay.." He gives me a weird look.

**To: Caroline**

_Shut up. ;)_

I simply reply.

**From: Caroline**

_Rawr. Cat fight. Lol._

I laugh again at Caroline's text and put my phone down beside my drink and sit back looking out the window. We are in a really smile town with a few businesses, houses and fields. Lots of fields.

Wendy came and brought me my scrambled eggs and bacon and Damon his BLT and home fries. We ate in a comfortable silence.

We get up and leave after Damon pays the bill. We get into the car and Damon immediately speeds off and turns the music up. I smile. We are driving on back roads and in the woods to beat traffic on busy highways we're speeding down to roads laughing. This is so much fun.

Damon puts on upbeat dance music with some rock mixed with it and this is the life. I love driving with Damon. He's just amazing.

I simply smile and stare at his rocking his head to the music. He looks over at me quick but then turns back to the road with a smirk. "Why are you staring at me?" He says knowingly.

"I don't know." I say softly like he did earlier.

He laughs. "You're kind of weird." He smirked at me.

I cross my eyes and stick my tongue out at him. He laughs before turning back to the road. "You love my weirdness." I tell him.

"Maybe I do." He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"So where are we going?" I asked innocently to change the subject.

"Not telling." He says smirking.

"Common?" I pout. "It's nearly 9:30 and I would really like to know where I'm going and when we are going to get there." I pout at him.

He groans. "Fine!" He says. "I really wanted to see your face when you find out we are going to this place by seeing the skyline. We are going to New York City." He says simply with a cocky smirk.

"New York!" I say shocked. He's taking me to New York City. I smiled hugely. Oh. My. God. I've always wanted to go there. I'm going to see the New York City skyline. I'm going to be in New York City. Oh. My. God. I'm shocked. I can't believe it. This is going to be one amazing day.

"Yes. We're going to New York." Damon smiled at me.

"Seriously?" I ask still shocked.

"Yup." He smirked.

"Woah." I say looking down in my lap shyly. "You're taking me to New York City." I smile.

"Yeah, we're going to stay with my Grandma Lucy." He smiled.

"You visit him a lot right?" I ask.

"About once a year, which is a lot because of how far away she lives." He says.

"Why are we going?" I ask still with a huge giddy smile.

"Well she wanted me to visit this summer and I thought what the heck why not? So I called her up last night and asked to come and visit and bring a friend and she got all excited and can't wait for us to arrive." He smiles genuinely.

"Aw. That's really sweet." I said taunting.

"Shut up, Lena." He said joking. I love that nickname. _Lena. _I smile shyly.

We're here! It's a little passed 1 o'clock and we've been driving all day. I'm exhausted. We stopped for lunch an hour ago. We've spent the hours playing car games and 'Would you Rather?', laughing and sharing memories. I loved it. We are driving on the bridge into New York, I don't exactly remember the name of it but I don't care. I'm so excited! I can see the New York skyline; all the buildings and sky scrapers. It's beautiful. I love it here already.

"It's so beautiful." I say softly.

"Yeah." He smirks. "It doesn't really praise me anymore since I lived here for a while and visit every year."

"Yeah, well it still has to be gorgeous right?" I say.

"It is. I love it, I always love coming here." He says genuinely.

I smile. "I'm already in love with it." I say.

"I love that I'm the one that gets to bring you here for the first time." He said sincerely.

I smile shyly. "So where does you Grandma live?" I ask.

"In a beautiful apartment in Manhattan."

"Manhattan? Really? Wow." I said shocked again.

"Mhmm." He smirks.

About 40 minutes later we pull up to a beautiful apartment building. He grabs two bags out of the backseat and passes the car keys to a valet driver who passes him a little paper that we need to get the car back. He smirks at me. This place is huge, gorgeous and expensive. We walk through a revolving and are greeted by a friendly doorman. We walk into a huge lobby with couches, rugs, art, plants and everything beautiful.

"Come on we have to sign in since we're staying overnight." Damon says guiding me over to the front desk with his hand on the small on my back.

A lady in her late twenties sits behind the desk. "Hi, how may I help you?" She asks with a fake huge smile.

"We're here to visit my Grandmother overnight; Lucy Parks." He smiles at him.

She smiles and types stuff into her computer. "Yes Ms. Parks lives on the 17th floor, 1705." She says. "What's your names?" She asked politely.

"I'm Damon Salvatore and she's Elena Gilbert." Damon replied politely.

"How long will you be staying?"

"Just one night, we'll be leaving in the late morning." He explains and I frown I wish it could be a longer visit.

"Okay. Everything's good, you can go on up." She smiled.

"Thank you." Damon smiled back at her. He grabbed my hand and led me over to the elevators. Once we get inside he lets go of my hand and hits the number 17. I miss holding his hand. It felt so normal and right.

"You'll love my Grandma, she's so sweet and funny. She's a lot like my mom." Damon says softly. Aww. Damon's actually cute sometimes even though it's only ever when he's alone with me.

The elevator doors open and we walk out into a long hallway and walk passed just a few doors before stopping at 1705. Damon knocks. And a shorter woman with grey hair and bright blue eyes like Damon's opens the door. She immediately grabs Damon and hugs him tight.

"I missed you so much." She says with a big smile. She pulls away and opens the door wide to let us into a pretty little foyer. Damon sets down the bags.

"I missed you too Grandma. This is Elena." Damon introduces.

Damon's Grandma pulls me into a hug. "It's so nice to meet you." She smiles. "You can call me Lucy or Grandma. It doesn't matter to me." She smiles at me.

"Okay, and it's so nice to meet you too. Thank you so much for allowing me to come with Damon. I've always wanted to visit New York City." I say politely.

"Oh it's no problem what's or ever. I'm so glad to have you both visit. I get lonely here." She smiles genuinely. I can see why Damon loves her so much.

"Come on, I'll show you around." She said before giving me a tour with Damon trailing behind us. It was a three bedroom apartment but one of the bedrooms was an office/laundry room so Damon said he'll sleep on the couch we'll I sleep in the spare bedroom. It was very spacious for a New York apartment. A large kitchen and island that opened into a large and nicely decorated living room. The apartment is beautiful; it's just like a place I would like to live when I'm older.

It's now four and we are all sitting in the living room chatting away. Grandma Lucy is asking me all sorts of questions, thankfully she hasn't asked if Damon and I are dating because that would just be awkward, but she's asked about everything else. She is a lovely woman.

I've never really been close with either of my grandparents. My grandparents on my dad's side live in Mystic Falls and come to all the founders' parties and such but they've never been that interested in Jeremy and me, to be honest they are kind of snobby. Then my grandparents on my mother's side retired and moved to Florida, they send money on birthdays and Christmas and visit once every couple years asking us how we are but we're not that close. So I love seeing Grandma Lucy so interested and loving.

I seen a picture of Grandma Lucy on her wedding day in her living room and she looked just like Elisabeth, or technically Elisabeth looked just like her. She had raven black hair, icy blue eyes and porcelain skin, which she passed on the Elisabeth, who passed it on the Damon. It makes me wonder what Damon's kids will look like.

Lucy's husband, Elisabeth's dad was a great man, he was an engineer of some sorts and he died when Elisabeth was only 13 of brain cancer. It's truly sad. Lucy was so in love with him and she's never truly moved on, she's had boyfriends throughout the years but none of them compared to her Eddie.

"So Damon why don't you go pick up some take out from that nice restaurant down the street you love so much?" Lucy suggested. Supposedly Damon knows the area really well since other than last year he's spent a month here every summer since his mother passed away.

"Okay. Elena, do you want to come with?" He asks me.

"Um, you don't mind?" I ask Lucy, because she might want to chat with me more.

"Oh no. Go explore a little. Damon, you better show her more than just the restaurant down the street." She smiles.

"Okay Grandma, you won't be bored alone?" He asks with a smirk.

"Oh no, I have to finish some laundry anyway. Don't rush home." She smiles at us.

"Okay, Grandma Lucy." I smile. "I'm just going to go freshen up quick, I'll be 15 minutes." I say to Damon before running off to the spare. I grab my backpack off the floor and dump on my bed searching for something hot to wear. I'm going out with Damon, kind of. I practically squeal. I grab a pair of dark wash cutoff jean short shorts and a blue sparkly tank top that is a little short and shows the bottom of my belly.

I change into them quickly and then grab my hair blush and makeup bag before walking into the bathroom. I put my wavy hair into a high pony tail with a few strain hanging out onto my face. I look pretty. I grab my blue eyeliner, black mascara, sparkly grey eye shadow, and pink lip gloss and apply it all carefully. I love my makeup. I have to admit, I look beautiful.

I grab my purse and check my phone. My mom texted me telling me she loved me that she hoped I was having fun and I replied saying I was and I loved her back. I left my room after turning the light off.

"Ready?" Damon asked waiting at the front door.

"Mhmm." I said really some silly grin.

"Okay, we'll be back in a couple hours with dinner. Love ya Grams." He shouted to Grandma Lucy while walking out the door.

"Have fun, love you too!" She shouted back with a giggle.

Neither of us said anything all the way to the lobby when I finally broke the silence. "So what are you going to show me?" I ask with a cheerful smile.

When we leave the building one of the valets approaches us. "Would you like your car?" He asks. I expect him to say yes.

"No thanks we'll walk." He smiles and leads me to the busy sidewalk.

"Why, aren't we driving?" I ask.

"It's New York! The only time you use a car is when you're leaving or coming." He smirks.

"Okay." I smile, not really caring as long as I get to spend time with Damon.

"You know what? Change of plans." Damon says after walking for two short minutes.

"What?" I ask confused.

"Well, I'll take you to a few little boutiques and stores and a little café library that I love going to, then we'll get dinner, take it back to Grandma, eat and then we'll go back out." He smiles at me.

"Okay!" I say not even trying to hide my amusement. He smiles back at me before grabbing my hand and leading me down the busy sidewalk.

It's quarter to 6 and we are entering a little coffee café, that Damon loves. It's our last stop until we go get some dinner.

We've been to three little boutiques; Damon's brought me one thing from each. One was a shoe place and he got me little pink flats with a black bow, they were cheap and he says that the things he's getting me count as my next Christmas present from him. The second place was a stuff animal store; a whole store just for stuff animals. It was so cute. There was every animal you could think of. He got me a little stuff yellow duck. It was adorable. Then the last place was a homemade jewelry place. The owner made all the stuff with help from employees and friends. The jewelry wasn't fancy and expansive but it was pretty. He got me this little charm bracelet that already had five charms on it, each one was just a small circle with a word on it. The words were; friends, family, love, luck, and laughter. There were different colored beads between each charm. It was really pretty and I'll cherish it just because Damon got it for me.

When we walk into the café I realize why Damon loves it. It so chill and relaxing in here. There are couches and small tables, bookshelves, and laptops you can use. There's a counter where you can buy food and beverages. The menu consists of coffee drinks, different types of hot chocolate, different types of smoothies, muffins, cookies, cakes and pies. It smells like coffee and baked goods. It's so relaxing.

"Okay, we can't eat much since we still have to eat dinner but we can come back for breakfast tomorrow before we leave." He says as we sit down on a couch.

"Okay." I smile genuinely.

"I'm going to go get us stuff, what do you want?" He asks me.

"Can I get an iced cappuccino and a blueberry muffin?" I ask.

"Of course." He smirks. "Be right back." He says before leaving to go get our stuff, but the line looks pretty long so I pull out my phone and see I have a new text from Caroline.

**From: Caroline**

_Come on. I want details. Where are you? What are you doing? Are you losing you virginity? ;)_

I laugh out loud literally. Wow Caroline.

**To: Caroline **

_NO! I am not losing my virginity. Lol. He brought me the NEW YORK CITY! To visit his Grandma. We hang out with her at her apartment, then did a little shopping. We are about to stop and get take out to bring back to her then we are going out again but I don't know where. I'll text you later with more. :)_

I reply to her. Within a minute I get a reply.

**From: Caroline**

_AW! New York City? That's so romantic. You should totally give him your V-card._

V-card? Where does she come up with this stuff? I laugh.

**To: Caroline**

_No. Caroline. _

I reply. I put my phone back into my purse right as Damon came back. He had a chocolate chip muffin and coffee for himself. We made small talk about his Grandma and New York.

We went to the take out restaurant and got some chicken and rice and vegetable meal that'll feed all of us. We walked back to ten minute walk to Grandma Lucy's place and up to her apartment. We let ourselves in with the key she gave Damon before we left. We found her in the living room knitting.

"Oh, how was your late afternoon?" She asked us both.

"Great." We both said at the same time before going into the kitchen to slip to food up. Grandma Lucy came and sat at the island in front of us.

I got us all some apple juice while Damon dished us all some food. Afterwards we ate in an awkward silence. This food was really delicious. "Mm. This is really good." I comment.

"Mhmm. Why do you think I love it?" Damon asks with a smirk.

"Ha, ha." I say sarcastically. When we finish Grandma Lucy goes back to knitting while Damon and I put leftovers away and do the dishes. About half way through he starts to flick soapy water at me. "Hey!" I say and dry myself with the towel I'm using to dry the dishes.

"What?" He asks innocently. I grab some foamy bubbles out of the sink and smear it on his face.

He wipes the foam off of him and looks kind of mad but a joking mad. "Okay, truce?" I ask backing up from him. I don't want to have to change.

"Fine, we don't want a repeat of last Christmas." He says with a smirk. I laugh thinking about how we got into that soap war while doing dishes after Christmas Eve dinner.

"Good times." I say with a big smile.

After we're done, it's quarter after seven and we go into the living room to relax. "So we won't leave till like eight thirty so we can relax for a little while." Damon says.

"You guys going back out?" Grandma asks curious but smiling. I think she's trying to push us together. Maybe, just maybe. I smirk at the thought.

"Mhmm." Damon says. "Don't wait up." He smirks.

"I probably will, knowing me." She smirks back just like Damon.

At eight thirty we are leaving to gorgeous apartment building hand in hand and are walking down the street. Before we left I let my hair down naturally it wavy and fun. I love it.

"So where we going?" I ask.

"It's a surprise." He smirked.

After a half an hour of walking, holding his hand and small chat we arrive in from of a club. "Damon! They aren't going to let us in." I say.

"Yes they will, they might not serve us but I know the owner and the owner's daughter, we just have to go around back. Come on." He says pulling me around to an alley.

He pulls me to a back medal door and knocks on it. A big Italian guy wearing a chef's jacket, opens it just a crack. "Can I help you?" He asks.

"Tell Bree or Tessa that Damon Salvatore is at the back door, they'll let us in." Damon say confidently.

"Okay." He sighs before closing the door. Three minutes later a young pretty dark hair and tanned skin opens the door with a big smile. She looked to be about twenty. "DAMON!" She cheers and hugs him.

When she pulls away she sees me and smiles politely. "Who's this?" She asks.

"This is Elena.." Damon says but Tessa cuts him off with a squeal.

"The Elena Gilbert?" She asks shocked. Damon gives her a 'shut up' look. She sighs. "Sorry. I'm an old friend of Damon's and I've heard a lot about you. Both of you come with me." She says before opening the door wider and leading us through a small storage away and kitchen then past a safe bathroom and office until we arrived by the bar in the actually club. It was big with a huge dance floor, some couches and tables. Normal club type stuff.

Damon and Tessa lead me over to a couple bar stools. Damon sits down between us. "So, Tessa and I became great friends two summers ago when I was here for about 5 weeks, she was eighteen, I was fifteen but for the first three weeks she thought I was eighteen too until I finally fessed up." He laughed. I laughed to kind of shock.

"Yeah, he did because he knew my mom wouldn't serve a fifteen year old alcohol." Tessa laughed.

"So she would serve an eighteen year old?" I asked with a giggle.

"Yeah, well she served me at seventeen so.." She trailed off.

"Wow, you're moms cool." I say with envy. "I don't even think my mom will allow me to drink at 21 years old." I joke partly.

Damon and Tessa both laughed. "It's true, Miranda's a bit of a control freak." Damon smirked.

"Damon Salvatore!" I hear a loud cheerful voice say. I turn my head a see an older woman in her late thirties-early forties with caramel skin coming over from the other side of the bar.

"Bree!" Damon says with a big smile. He leans over the counter top and kisses her cheek. "It's nice to see you." He says to 'Bree'. And turns to me, "Elena this is Bree, Tessa's mom, Bree this is Elena." He introduces.

"Hi it's nice to meet you." I say with a wave.

"Mom, can we get some drinks?" Tessa asks sweetly.

"How old is she?" Bree asks Damon.

"Seventeen; like me." He says without blinking. He's such a good liar.

"Fine. But if anyone asks you all 21." She says with a wink. "What you guys want?"

"Um, screwdriver for me." Tessa says.

"Bourbon." Damon says.

"Um, screwdriver please." I say shyly.

She goes about making our drinks and talking about something with Tessa. Damon leans over close to my ear. "Btw, I lost my virginity to Tessa." He whispers in my ear. I'm sure my face goes green with jealousy. I suddenly don't like Tessa very much.

"Oh." I say quiet. And looking into my lap. Bree passes my screwdriver over and then passes Damon his glass of bourbon.

Tessa makes small talk with me asking questions about me and talking about how she's going to NYU to study film making. But I'm not really that upbeat. At least I'm not ignoring her.

"Hey, want to dance?" Damon asks my about an hour and three screwdrivers into clubbing.

"Sure. Why not?" I say grabbing his hand and pulling him to the crowd of dancing couples. There's some upbeat dance song on and Damon pulls me close swaying his hips against mine to the beat of the music.

"You okay?" He asks into my ear.

"Yeah."

"Oh common Elena, you know I know you better than that." He says grinding hips into mine which makes me gasp quiet enough that he doesn't hear me. This is erotic dancing.

"I'm fine Damon." I say smirking and grinding back into him. I think the alcohol's finally hitting me.

"Oh yeah?" He asks with a smirk.

"Mhmm." I nod with a little giggle.

"Sleeping with Tessa was amazing." He says.

"Okay?" I say wondering why he said that.

"Because it was my first time having sex. I thought it was the best thing on earth." He smirks. "But I realized now that I'm more mature, sex can be a whole lot better." He says.

"What about with Katherine?" I ask but I really don't know if I want to answer.

"Katherine was good." He says with a smirk. "But I pretty much hated her. To be honest, she's kind of a bitch." He said.

I laughed. "Yeah she is." I agreed.

"The summer I was here, I was in like a friends with benefits relationship with Tessa until she found out I was fifteen. Then we were just friends." Damon explained still grinding into me.

I nodded. Understanding. "I'm getting a little drunk Damon. Bad things happen when I'm drunk." I say hinting that I want to leave.

"Okay, let's go." Damon says grabbing my hand and pulling me back to the bar where Tessa is talking to her mom and watching my purse. "Hey, it was really great seeing you again but we are gonna get going." Damon says to both of them.

"Bye." Tessa says hugging Damon. Then she hugs me. "It was so great meeting you!" She says to me.

"You too." I smile. She is nice but I still don't like her. "It was nice meeting you Bree." I say to the older woman behind the bar.

"You should both come back sometime soon." Bree suggests.

"We're only in town for the night sadly." Damon says. I grab my purse and we leave to bar. Damon has his arm around my waist protecting me from all the middle aged drunk man in the bar. The walk back to the apartment building is silent but Damon's arm does not leave my waist, which I love.

When we get back to the building the doorman greets us and we make our way through the lobby and into the elevator. I rest my head on Damon's shoulder half because I'm tired and half because I'm slightly drunk.

We get into the apartment to see all the lights are turned off except for the hall light. Probably so we can see a little. Grandma Lucy must have gone to bed even though she said she would wait up. It's barely eleven o'clock.

Damon leads me to my room still without a word. Once we get into the room tells me to sit on the bed and he goes through my bag and fits pink plaid pajama shorts and a white small tank top and passes them to me. "Change into these. Don't sleep in your clothes. I'll see you in the morning Lena." He kisses my forehead before leaving the room. I change into my pajamas and brush my teeth and hair. I'm a little light headed; I'm going to go get some water.

I walk into the kitchen and grab a bottle of water. I see Damon on the couch in just his boxers and a small thin blanket. He's tossing and turning trying to sleep. That couch isn't very comfortable; it's more for show. "Damon, come sleep with me." I say with a sigh.

He looks up with wide eyes, shocked at what I just said. "I mean, um. Come sleep in the spare room with me. It's a queen sized bed. There's plenty of room. I don't mind." I say kindly.

"No thank you, I'm good." He says politely.

"No, that couch is not comfortable. No offense to Grandma Lucy but it's more for show." I say.

"What would she say if she got up and I wasn't on the couch?" He asked.

"I know what she would think but once we woke up, we would tell her the truth." I say leaning against the island. "That we just slept." I say reassuring.

"Okay." He gives in and follows me to the room. We get into different side of the bed and allow I would love to cuddle with him; I have to stay on my side. Hear that Elena? Stay on your side! I tell myself while turning the lamp off and getting comfortable.

"Elena?" Damon asks.

"Yeah."

"You wanna know what today was?" He asks.

"What?" I'm confused.

"Promise you won't tell anyone about this?" He asks.

"Promise." I say and I mean it.

"Ten years ago today we met." He says. Holy crap. How does he remember to day! July 7th. That was the day. Oh my gosh.

"How'd you remember that?" I asked quietly.

"I've just always known. I have a good memory." He shrugs.

"Goodnight Damon." I say with a smile.

"Night Lena." I hear him reply. After a few short minutes I hear his breathing changed and I know he fell asleep. So I do the same, but like always I dream of Damon holding me.

**Damon's POV**

I wince at the sunshine coming through the window. I was sleeping very happily. I feel something in my arms. I open my eyes and almost gasp. My arms are wrapped around Elena's back and her head is snuggled into my chest. That's why I was sleeping happily. I'm cuddling with Elena. Duh. She looks so peaceful and adorable. The girl I'm in love with is sleeping in my arms. This is literally a dream come true. Last night comes back to me. We went to a bar/club. The one that Tessa's mom owns. We hung out with Tessa and got free drinks. We danced. God we need to dance more often. She got a little drunk and we came home, she told me to sleep in the same bed at her because the couch was uncomfortable. I don't remember falling asleep like this?

Elena begins to stir. I close my eyes. I don't want her to think I was watching her.

"Damon." Elena whispers. "You suck at faking sleep." She says calmly.

I open one eye and look down at her. "Good morning." I say kind of shyly.

"Morning." She says and looks into my eyes. "Damon?"

"Mhmm?" I ask.

"You can unwrap your arms now from my back."

"Oh, yeah." I say. And unwrap my arms even though I really don't want to.

She gets up and heads over to the bathroom. "And try to get rid of the morning wood." She says while walking into the bathroom confidently. I sigh and roll over and see that the time is 8:11am. We have to leave by nine so we can grab breakfast and still make it back to Mystic Falls before dinner. I hear the shower come on and I know I have enough time to quickly get rid of the problem.

I get up and head out to the kitchen after fixing the problem. I see my Grandma making coffee and she looks up at me in just my boxers, this doesn't look good.

"Oh." Grandma says. "I didn't realize you and Elena were together per say." She says with a hint of a smile.

"We're not!" I said. "We're just friends." I said trying to shake the thought of Elena and I together out of my head even though I so want it to me true.

"Well, I don't really approve of friends with benefits relationships…" She trailed off.

"There's no benefits. Elena and I aren't sleeping together. Well we are sleeping together but we aren't sleeping together." I say using air quotes around the last sleeping.

"Huh?" Grandma asks confused.

"We're friends. I only slept in her bed because the couch wasn't comfortable." I explain.

"What about the boxers?" She asks as I pour myself some coffee.

"It was hot last night." I easily explain.

"Okay, whatever." She says with a small smirk. "When you guys leaving?" She asks.

"In like a half hour." I say Justas Elena's walking out to the kitchen in a fresh outfit and wet brushed hair looking a little uncomfortable. "I explained everything. Don't worry." I tell her.

"Okay good." Elena says as she pours herself some orange juice. "When do we leave?" She asks.

"In a half hour so pack whatever's not packed." I say grabbing my bag and going to have a shower.

After my shower I dress in a simple white shirt and black pants. We both say goodbye to Grandma Lucy before heading to Mic's Café for breakfast; the place we went to before dinner last night. We each have coffee and a bagel before leaving New York City for Mystic Falls, hoping to return very soon

**AN: PLEASE REVIEW! If you liked it please review! I'm only 10 away from 100 and I've never made it to 100 reviews before which is kind of sad but that's because I suck at updating stories fast. Review please. Thank you so much to all those who has reviewed this story. I really appreciate all of you. :)**


	12. Our Night

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews. 100 reviews! YAY! I know this is shorter than most chapters. But you'll love it anyway. *hint, hint* :) PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 12: Our Night**

**August 17****th**** 2008 6:02pm**

**Elena's POV**

I grab my purse and check my appearance in my body length mirror on the back of my door. I'm wearing simple beige shorts and a blood red tank top that says ACDC in black. Damon recently got me into ACDC, it's actually not that bad. I have a simple black bikini underneath since Damon says we might go swimming tonight. My hair's straightened and I'm not wearing any makeup because I don't want it to run if we go swimming.

I'm going over to Damon's tonight to hang out. Giuseppe's out of town on business and Stefan's going to be on a date with Lexi. Nothing much has changed since we went to New York; he's still acting like a protective brother but there been a little bit more teasing which I love. I smile at myself.

I turn off my lights and head downstairs. I see my mom folding laundry in the living room. "I'm going to Damon's, see you later." I say quickly heading for the front door.

"Elena, wait!" My mom calls at me. I sigh and turn around heading back to the living room.

"Yeah?" I ask from the doorway.

She sets the laundry down and sits on the couch. "Come sit." She says with a sweet voice patting the cushion beside her. Ugh. This is good. I go and sit down beside her looking at her, waiting for her to continue. "You've been spend _a lot _of time with Damon." She says emphasizing 'a lot' with her voice.

"Yeah, I know. We're friends." I say with a little bit of attitude.

"Well, I just want you to know that you cannot date Damon." She says kindly but the words are certainly not kind.

"What?" I say shocked.

"You and Damon have been getting really close and your father and I have talked and we won't allow you to date him." She said more sternly.

"One, Damon and I are friends. Two, what's wrong with Damon?" I say pissed.

"He has a reputation Elena." My lovely mother says to me like I'm an idiot.

"That doesn't mean its all true." I say still very pissed.

"Damon is very proud about all the stuff he gets away with. Everyone knows he drinks a lot. Sleeps with different girls all the time and has even tried marijuana." She says professionally. "He's troubled Elena."

"Mom! I can't even believe you right now. You've watched him grow up. You've even said he's like a son to you and you're talking so bad of him right now." I say shocked.

"Yes and I love him. I really do but since Elisabeth passed he's become a trouble maker and I'm okay with you spending time with him but I'm not okay with you being in a romantic- young love relationship." She tried to explain.

"We're not! We're friends!" I yell standing up and walking towards to doorway. I can't even be near her right now.

"Good, keep it that way." She says sternly.

"Bye." I say angrily and leave the house fast running across mine and Damon's front yard till I get to the front door. I knock and wait for him to open the door. When he opens it he's in black jeans and a blue button up. He has a huge smile until he sees my angry expression and pulls me inside.

I kick off my sneakers and set my purse on the table beside to front door. "What's wrong?" He asks concerned.

"My mom, it's nothing." I say shaking my head.

"Okay, I see you don't want to talk about it so I want push." He says with a friendly smile.

"Thank. So did you order the pizza?" I ask with a smile and following him into the den.

"Mhmm, it should be here soon." He tells me as I sit beside him on the couch and get comfortable. He already had plates and cups on the coffee table ready for when the pizza gets here. The radio is on to a pop station and isn't too loud.

"So how was your day?" He asks trying to break the silence.

"Great, Caroline, Bonnie and I went shopping." I smiled.

"Fun." He says sarcastically.

"Hey! It was fun." I say with a smirk.

"What's your favourite colour?" He asks randomly.

"Don't you know this?" I asked.

"I know it was pink from when you were 6-10. I don't know what it is now." He smirks.

"It's lilac." I say.

"So light purple?"

"Yes." I say with a smile. The doorbell rings and he gets up to get the pizza. He comes back a few minutes later with a pizza box and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. He sets it down on the coffee table. He pours two glasses of Dr. Pepper and gives me two slices of pepperoni pizza. "Thanks." I smile shyly and start eating the pizza.

"That pizza is delicious." I say after finishing my two slices at the same time he finishes three slices. He's a fast eater.

Damon gets up and grabs a bottle of whiskey out of his father's liquor cabinet. He smirks and wiggles it in his hand. "Want some?" He asks.

"Um, no thanks. Alcohol and me don't mix well." I smirk.

"Fine, I'll have some." He fills up a glass and sits beside me on the couch it was about quarter after seven and it was getting dark. "So what's been going on with you and Stefan, it's like you guys are acquaintances not friends?" He asks sincerely.

"I don't know, I guess we just drifted apart." I say sadly. "Ever since his birthday, we barely talk."

"Well maybe he feels guilty like me. Maybe he thinks that since it was his birthday, you wouldn't have been in that car if it wasn't for him." He suggests.

"That's ridiculous." I say.

"I know but he might feel like it's true. So maybe he's distancing himself from you so he doesn't feel so bad."

"Maybe." I say sadly and look down into my lap.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything will go back to normal eventually." He says grabbing my hand and rubbing the back of it to sooth me.

"Thanks."

"Want to go chill in the pool?" He asks with a smirk.

"Sure, can I borrow a towel?" I ask.

"Of course." I follow him to the closet outside of the kitchen that we hide in when I was 12 and he was 14 to pull that prank on Stefan, Jenna and Alaric. That was a great night. I follow him into the closet and the door closes behind us. He grabs two fluffy towels and some water bottles. He passes me my towel and goes to open the door. But doesn't seem to open it. He keeps wiggling it.

"What?" I ask.

"It's just jammed a little." He says calmly and yanks on the door with all his strength. He flies back and hits his back against the shelves. I look in his hand and see the door knob.

"Oh my gosh." I start to panic.

"It's okay." He says trying to reattach the doorknob to the door.

"It's not going to work! We're stuck it here!" I practically yell. Oh my gosh.

"Don't panic. We'll be okay. We have water and some chips. Blankets, pillows, sheets." He says pointing out everything that is stored in this closet. "We just have to wait till Stefan gets home." He says rubbing my arms to sooth me.

"He probably won't get home till midnight. That's five hours!" I say mad.

"We have everything we need." Damon says calm.

"How are you calm?" I say pissed. "Why did I leave my cellphone in my purse in the den! Ugh!"

"Have some water." He says passing me a water bottle and setting the towels on the shelf. I chug half the water bottle and it calms me down. This is a too small closet. It's like six feet by six feet but the shelves cover up some space, so we can't even lie down. Damon sits down with his back up against the shelves and looks up at me. "You okay?" He asks concerned.

I sit down beside him and lean my head on his shoulder. "Yeah I'll be fine." I say. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and brings me closer, he kisses my forehead affectionately.

I smile. Damon cares about me a lot. Even though it may not be the way I want, I should be happy he cares about me.

**Damon's POV**

We've been stuck in this closet for about three hours now, we are sharing a bag of rippled potato chips and talking about we want to do in life.

"I want to be a journalist of some sorts." Elena tells me with her head on my shoulder.

"I just want to get the hell out of dodge." I say with a smirk.

"And by dodge, you mean Mystic Falls?" She asks me with a similar smirk as mine.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. I might come back to raise a family if that's what I want but when I graduate high school, I'm leaving for a good ten years." I explain.

"I'll miss you." I hear her say quietly.

"You could come with?" I say kind of joking but hinting that I actually want her too.

"One, you graduate in a year and I graduate in three years. And two my parents would never let me." She says sadly.

"One, I can come back for you. And two, once your eighteen, your parents don't control you." I explain.

"They have it all mapped out. I'll Whitmore in Richmond since it's the closest college, I'll study journalism, then when I graduate college I'll come back here and get a job at Mystic Daily Newspaper. Then I'll get married to a gentleman from a founding family and then I'll have kids. It's all what they did." She says sadly.

"That sounds fun." I say sarcastically. She laughs. "They can't control what you do or where you do it. They can't control who you're with and when you settle down. It's all your choice." I say serious. She looks up at me with a smile.

"Before I came here, I got in a fight with my mom because she thinks we're together or something and she doesn't like it. She forbids me for seeing you romantically even though I told her a million times that we're friends. I was mad at her because I don't understand why she wouldn't want me with you, you're a great guy. But she sees you as the troubled boy next door." She explains looking me straight in the eye with a shy smile. I'm actually hurt. I thought Miranda liked me like another son. Wow. She's a bitch. I'm mad.

"That makes me feel great." I say sarcastically. "Thanks for sticking up for me." I smile down at her. She's so beautiful and kind. She's just amazing and perfect. Well at least perfect for me. "I love you." I whisper without even thinking. She looks shocked and sits back.

"What?" She asks shocked.

"I mean, you're like family. We've known each other forever." I said covering it up.

"Oh, yeah. I love you too." She mumbles sadly.

"No." I say sitting up and shaking my head. "I actually love you." I said shocked at myself that I'm actually admitting it but I can't let her hurt. "Elena, I'm in love with you." I say looking into her eyes and grabbing her hands.

"Seriously?" She asks shocked.

"Yeah, it's just I don't deserve you." I say.

"Yes you do." She says confidently. "You're amazing. Yes you've gotten me drunk multiple times and you aren't the best influence on me but you make me happy and I'm in love with you. That's all that matters." She just said it back. Wow. I can't believe this beautiful and perfect girl in front of me loves me back. This is the best feeling in the world.

I pull her on my lap and she wraps her arms around my neck. We smile at each other. I grab her face and pull it to mine. Her lips crash on to mine and it feels like home. It's passionate and slow at first but it soon gets heated. Our tongues battle for dominance and mine wins of course. I'm so in love. This girl is truly perfect.

After a few minutes of making out Elena pulls back because she needs to breathe but I have to have my mouth on her so I move it to her neck and suck on her pulse point. I suck long enough to leave a mark but I know it's in a spot where she can hide it with her hair. I pull back a smirk at her.

"Looks like you can't where your hair up for a couple days." I smirk.

"Damon!" She squeals with a big smile and playfully hits my shoulder.

"What?" I ask innocently. "You're mine now. I had to leave a mark." I explain with a smirk. I don't think I been this happy since before my mother passed away.

"I'm not your property." She tells me with a smirk.

"No but you're still mine." I inform her and she smiles genuinely. "And I'm yours." She smiles hugely. Why is she turning me into a cheeseball?

Her smile turns into a frown. "You know my parents won't allow us to be together." I pull her closer to me if that's possible.

"Well then, we'll have to sneak around." I say still confident. Elena and I are going to be together, I don't care what anyone thinks.

"Okay then." Elena shrugs before kissing me again. We start into another heavy make-out session. "Say it again." She says in between kisses.

"What?" I kiss her a again. "I?" Kiss. "Love?" Kiss. "You?" I ask.

"Mhmm." She says going to suck on my neck.

"I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." I chant as she sucks and kisses down my neck. She giggles into my neck. I feel myself getting hard and she gasps when she feels it to. She looks up into my eyes with a smirk. "What? I can't control it." I say innocently.

She giggles. "I love you." She says pecking my lips. I check my watch and see it's ten to eleven. "What you don't like being stuck in a closet with little ol' me?" She jokingly asks.

"No I love being stuck in this closet with you, I'm just checking my watch to see how much time I still have you for." I smirk.

"My curfew is eleven, my parents are going to be pissed when I get home after midnight." She tells me.

"They better not ground you right when I get to hang out with you and kiss you." I joke.

"Hopefully they won't." She says before kissing me again.

I break the kiss for a second saying, "Tonight's our night." I smile before kissing her again.

It's quarter to midnight when our very long make-out session gets interrupted by the front door opening and we know its Stefan. Elena gets off my lap and I stand up and bang on the door. "STEFAN!" I yell.

"Damon?" I hear him shout confused. "Where are you?"

"In the closet by the kitchen!" I shout back.

After about a minute he opens the door and sees Elena and I standing there. "What are you guys doing in here?" He asks.

"The doorknob broke; we been stuck in here for almost five hours." I say tired.

"Wow. That must have been boring." He says.

"Eh, we made do." I said smirking at Elena and she laughed a little. We followed Stefan into the den.

"How was your date?" Elena asks.

"Great." Stefan smiled before putting some t.v on.

Elena picked up her purse. "Well, I'm going to get going before I'm in even more trouble with my parents." She sighs.

"I'll walk you over." I suggest.

"Thanks." She says. I follow her out of my house and we walk side my side all the way to her porch. I pull her into a hug.

"I really want to kiss you right now but your parents could see so I can't." I whisper in her ear.

She nods and pulls out of the hug. "I'll hopefully see you tomorrow if I'm not grounded." She sighs before heading inside, into her doom. Haha. I laugh a little before heading back to my house.

**Elena's POV**

I walk inside and head straight to the living room and see my mom sitting on the couch and my father pacing back and forth.

"Thank god. I was just about to go over to get you but your mother said I needed to give you a little bit of independence." My father yells at me pissed.

"I've texted you a million times." My mother yells.

"I'm sorry. Just let me explain." I sigh. They both nod and I continue. "Okay, so around seven Damon and I were going out to swim but we stopped in the closet by the kitchen to grab towels. The doorknob broke and we got stuck in there for five hours until Stefan got home like five minutes ago. As soon as I got out I grabbed my stuff and came home right away. I'm so sorry. It's was an accident." I explain.

"We believe you." My mother says sweetly.

"What?! She could have been having sex with Damon." My dad yells pissed that my mom believes me.

"Daddy, Damon and I are just friends, I swear." I lie easily. Is it wrong that I can lie to my parents without feeling the least bit guilty.

"Okay, I'm sorry princess." My dad says genuinely believing me. "Go to bed." He tells me.

"Goodnight. Love you guys." I say running up the stairs and into my room. I go into my bathroom and brush my hair and teeth quickly before going back into my room. I change into my pajamas. I grab my diary and pen and lie down on my bed with just the lamp on.

_Dear Diary,_

_August 17, 2008; best night of my life so far. Enough said._

_Love Elena_

I laugh at my simple diary entry. I set my diary on my nightstand grab my phone out of my purse and turn my lamp off. I lie done in bed and open my flip phone.

I have 14 texts from my mom and 3 missed calls. I delete them all. Caroline sent me a text too.

**From: Caroline**

_Hey, how was your night with Damon. ;)_

I smirk. What should I say? I don't want to tell her everything over text. I want to tell her tomorrow in person.

**To: Caroline**

_It was amazing ;) . I'll tell you everything tomorrow. Meet me at the grill for lunch at noon?_

I reply. A new text comes in within a second but it's not from Caroline, it's from Damon.

**From: Damon**

_Goodnight, gorgeous. I love you, beautiful._

I smile a smile that reaches my eyes.

**To: Damon**

_Goodnight, cocky. I love you, sexy_

I reply with a smirk and I get a text from Caroline.

**From: Caroline**

_Sure, can't wait to find out what happened. Night. _

I smile and put my phone on my night stand and go to sleep. I know I'm going to dream of Damon tonight, for sure.

**AN: Hope you liked it. It's not too fast right? A lot more is still to come. Please review? :)**

**AN2: Sorry for mistakes. I have to do homework and clean tonight before going to bed so I don't have time to proof read. It was either update tonight without proof reading of update tomorrow night after proof reading.**


	13. I Hate Having to Hide Us

**AN: To answer someone's question, this story is barely beginning. It will have lots more angst and lots more chapters. Sorry for mistakes. I don't have time to proof read; I have to go to bed :) Hope you like it.**

**Meant To Be**

**Chapter 13: I Hate Having to Hide Us**

**September 8****th**** 2008 8:15pm**

**Damon's POV**

I pick Elena and toss her over my shoulder and start walking up the steps and out of my hot tub. "Damon put me down!" She squeals. And I laugh.

"Nope." I laugh and carry her into the house still dripping wet I run up the back stairs in the kitchen that lead up to the hall outside of my room.

"Damon I have to go home soon. And all my blood is rushing to my head. I don't like it." She says with a joking pout. And I laugh again before opening my bedroom door and setting her down in front of me.

"You left our towels down by the pool. I'm freezing." She pouts at me and crosses her arms. I smile before going into my bathroom and returning a second later with a towel for each of us. I rap one of the fluffy warm towels around her and kiss her forehead. "Thanks." She smiles up at me.

"No problem." I smirk. We take a few minutes drying ourselves off with the towels. We were hanging out in the hot tub and have a great time when I realized it was getting dark and she would soon have to go home because tomorrow is the first day of school so I grabbed her and brought her up here so I can kiss her without being caught.

After I finish drying myself off I drop the towel and pull her against me. She gasps but then smiles up at me. She warps her arms around my neck and pulls me down for a quick peck but the kiss soon gets heated. I slide my tongue against her bottom lip asking for entrance that she happily allows. After a few minutes of making up I pull back for a breath and nibble on her bottom lip.

"Why does school have to start tomorrow?" Elena asks with a groan.

"I know, it sucks. We'll have to hide us. The past couple weeks we've been hanging out alone and it's been easy to kiss you whenever I want because no one else has been around us but starting tomorrow we're going to have a lot less alone time." I say frustrated that we have to hide our relationship since Elena's parents don't think I'm right for her. It's not that they hate me it's just that they don't think I'm good for their daughter which I kind of agree with them. I'm just too selfish to let her go.

"I know." Elena says sad.

"What time do you have to be home by?" I ask.

"Ten. Now that schools starting they want me in bed earlier." She said.

"That's understandable." I say. She walks over to my bed and picks up her clothes from it and starts putting them on over top of her bathing suit which is still damp. I go to my dresser and grab a pair of boxers, sweat pants and a t-shirt. "I'll be right back." I tell her before walking into my bathroom and changing into warm clothes quickly.

When I return to my room I see Elena standing beside my bed in sweatpants and a simple pink v-neck t-shirt checking her phone.

"My mom texted me saying she wanted me home by nine because she has to talk to me about something, I told her we were watching a movie and it wouldn't be done till 9:30 so we got till then." She groans.

"Elena Gilbert, lying. Bad girl." I laugh. She smirks at me before setting her phone on my night stand and climbing into my bed under the covers. I climb in the other side I turn to her and smile. "I love you." I say simply with her face just inches from mine.

"I love you too, Damon Salvatore." She smirks playfully.

"I hate having to hide us." I admit.

"Me too." She frowns.

"But I have to admit, this sneaking around stuff is hot." I say trying to lighten the mood and she smiles.

I put my hand on her hip where her shirt has raised a bit and skin is exposed. I absentmindedly trail little patterns on her skin. And she sighs.

"Goodbye summer. Goodbye sleeping in. Goodbye staying up late. Goodbye pool make-out session. Goodbye cuddling in your bed all the time." She sighs. I'm going to definitely miss the summer.

"The summer will be missed." I say thinking about the past three weeks. The past three weeks have been the happiest three weeks since my mom died and I don't want to give it up yet.

I grab her chin and tilt it up so she's looking at me. "You are truly amazing, you know that?" I tell her and she blushes.

"You're not so bad yourself." She say playful.

"And you're incredibly beautiful." I whisper kissing her cheek.

"So are you." She smiles.

I chuckle before trailing light kisses down her jaw line, passed her ear and onto her neck. I push her back so her backs against the mattress and I climb onto of her. I gently kiss her lips before going back to her neck and sucking on a spot right below her ear. This has been my go to spot whenever we are making out because it's the perfect spot for her to be able to hide it with her hair. I suck on it for long enough that I know there's a mark and I pull back to look at the purplish-blue mark that's already forming and smirk proudly.

"Sorry." I fake apologize. She playfully hits my shoulder.

"Why do you like marking me so much?" She asks.

"Because even though nobody else can know, you're mine and I like to see proof." I smile down at her genuinely.

"You don't need proof. I'll be yours until you don't want me anymore." She says confidently.

"Then you'll be mine forever." I say with a really happy smile and she shrugs before pulling me down for another kiss on the lips. And I smile against them. Right then we hear a knock at the door, before we have a chance to move and look like just friends the door opens.

"Hey, Dam- Oh." Stefan says shocked seeing me on top of Elena.

I groan and sit beside Elena. "Stefan close the door." I demand. We've only told Caroline, Ric, Jenna and Bonnie. Caroline and Bonnie are Elena's best friends and are super close to her that she has to tell them. Ric is my best friend and I kind of need someone to talk about it even though I'm a guy and won't ever admit that out loud and Jenna is Ric's girlfriend and Elena's cousin and Ric didn't want to hide it from her. Both Caroline and Ric were happy that we were finally together. But both Jenna and Bonnie think I'm going to hurt Elena. But they all agreed to keep our secret. We haven't told Stefan because neither of us have been that close to him since the crash we don't know if we can trust him. We are going to have to explain everything now. Hopefully he'll keep our secret.

His face is shocked but he turns and closes the door. Elena sits up slightly so she's leaning against the head board. She looks a little guilty and sad that Stefan's finding out this way.

"I'll start." I start. "I'm in love with Elena." I admit.

Stefan eyes practically pop out of his head in shock. "Holy shit." He says.

"And I'm in love with Damon." Elena says quietly.

"Oh my god." He says completely shocked.

"We've been officially together for three weeks. We just can't tell anyone because we're afraid Elena's parents will try to keep us apart." I explain.

"How can I be so clueless?" He asks himself.

"I thought we were pretty good at hiding it." Elena shrugs.

"I mean, you guys have been so close and flirting all the time." Stefan says still shocked.

"Are you going to keep our secret?" I ask actually scared.

"I don't know." Stefan says quietly.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I yell angry.

"Damon, calm down." Elena says rubbing my back beside me.

"I'm sorry. But he's my little brother, he shouldn't have to think about it." I say sad.

"I don't know if this is good for Elena. You'll probably hurt her." Stefan says.

"Since when do you care?" Elena says now angry and stands up from my bed. She walks over in front of Stefan who is now taller than her by a few inches. "You've barely talked to me since the crash. You only have time for Lexi and Matt now." She yells at him upset and I get up and walk behind her putting my hands on her hips to calm her.

"Stefan, I would hurt Elena. She's changed me for the better. Please keep our secret." I beg.

"Fine." He says but I don't think he's happy about us. He turns around and heads out of my room. A second later he comes back. "Dad called by the way, he's coming back from his business trip tomorrow (the one he's been on since the end of July), he told me he got married and he's bringing back with him our new stepmother and our new stepsister." He says angry before leaving.

"Holy fuck." I say. How could he do that? Get married without telling us first. Telling us a day before he brings a new women and her daughter into this house. "What the fuck!" I step away from Elena and put my head in my heads.

"Damon?" I hear Elena ask. I don't look up. My father is a dick. It wouldn't be that bad if he dated her for like a year and we met her and she wasn't that bad. Then he asked us before he proposed and we were fine with it and then we were actually at the wedding. But no. Seems like our Dad doesn't even care to have us at the wedding. When did he even meet this girl?

I look up and see Elena walking towards me and wrapping her arms around my waist. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and rest my head onto of her head, sniffing her hair. "Thank you." I sigh.

"For what?" She asks.

"Just for being you." I explain simply.

She smiles up at me.

"You're welcome." She smirks.

I look over at my alarm clock and see it's almost 9:30. "You got to get home soon." I frown.

"I know." She pouts. She walks over to beside my bed and grabs her phone, purse and sweater since the weather is getting cooler.

"Come here." I say with my arms out gesturing for her to come to me. She walks in front of me and I grab her hits pulling them against mine as well as smashing my lips against hers. She immediately returns the kiss. Our kisses are always filled with passion and love. "I'll walk you over." I tell her. We walk hand in hand down stairs and pass Stefan in the living room. "I'll be right back, I'm walking Elena to her house." I call out to him.

"She lives next door." He mumbles but I smirk. I don't care if she lives so close I always walk her to her door.

We walk through our yards in a comfortable silence like we do every night until we reach her porch. I hug her and whisper, "I love you, goodnight," in her ear.

She smiles and whispers back, "Love you too, goodnight." She walks inside and I head back to my house once I'm inside I kick off my shoes and find Stefan in the living room writing in his 'journal'.

"Dear, Diary. Today Lexi wanted to get physical but I felt like I just wasn't ready." I say mocking him. He looks at me with a pissed expression.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny." Stefan says a little upset.

"Hey, sorry. Just joking around." I say sitting down beside him.

"I can't believe Dad got married and is bringing his new wife home tomorrow and we have a new step sister." He says angry.

"Me neither." I sigh. "I'm going to go hang out in my room for a while before I go to bed. Goodnight." I say before getting up.

"Hey, you got football practice tomorrow before school?" Stefan asks.

"No, they are giving us Monday mornings off since most of us are hung over on Mondays." I laugh.

"Are you driving Elena?" He asks. Last year I would sometimes drive her and sometimes she would walk if I had football.

"Probably. Why, you want a ride?" I ask.

"No, I'll walk with Lexi but um." He trailed off. "Are you really serious about her?" He asked quietly.

"As serious as a heart attack. I love her." I answer before leaving and walking up the stairs not letting him reply.

**Elena's POV**

I walk inside and see my mom sitting on the couch waiting for me. "Hi, sweetie. Come sit down." I walk over a sit beside her.

"What's up?" I ask sitting down beside her.

"Well I have a few different things I wanted to talk to you about. First, I was just wondering if you still want to sign up for cheerleading this year." She asks with a kind smile. I haven't really thought about it lately. I guess I will. Damon thought I was hot in my cheerleading uniform.

"Yeah, why not?" I shrug.

"Okay great. You are amazing at it. Also Miss Mystic 2009 is coming up in about 15 months and we need to start planning." Am I hearing her right? 15 months? We have to start planning already?

"Okay." I said because I really don't feel like arguing about anything right now.

"Awesome, I can't wait!" She says excitedly. "Lastly, Giuseppe called to inform he has met an amazing woman and married her. She has a 14 year old daughter and Giuseppe was wondering if tomorrow after school, you can show her around town. She won't be able to make it to school tomorrow because their plane isn't landing till tomorrow afternoon but she'll be a freshman at your school and she won't know anyone so can you be a nice friend to her." She asked.

"Of course I will be. Can I go to bed now?" I ask getting up.

"Yup. Goodnight, Honey. I love you." She says while I leave the room heading up stairs.

"Love you too." I call back to her while running up the stairs.

I get into my room and close the door behind me. I set my purse on my bed and take my sweater off. I walk into the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth and I see my 13 year old brother lying on his bed listening to music with his big lime green headphones. I knock on the open door and he sees me and takes the headphones off.

"What?" He asks with a bit of attitude.

"We never talk anymore." I say.

"Yeah, your point is?" He asks.

"You're my baby brother. I miss you." I say sadly.

"I'm still here, Elena." He says with no emotion in his voice.

"Tomorrow's your start of your last year of junior high." I state the obvious. "Do you like anyone?" I say hinting that he might like a girl or something. I just want to know about my little brother's life.

"No."

"Oh. Well is there anything new in your life?" I ask.

"Nope." I nod before turning and I was about to head back into the bathroom when I heard him say, "Are you dating Damon?" My eyes go wide and I turn back to look at him.

"What? No! Why?" I say shocked.

"It's just you've been spending so much time with him. And I've heard mom and dad whispering about how they think you guys are sneaking around." He explains.

"Well we're not. We're friends. Mom and dad are just too suspicious." I say calmly hoping he'll believe me.

"Oh, okay." He says dropping the topic even though I think he still thinks I'm with Damon.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Jer." I say and going back into the bathroom. I close his door and use the toilet quick before washing my hands and face. Then I brushed my hair and teeth before walking back into my room. I too tired to write in my diary so I'll catch up tomorrow. I lie down and turn my light off.

I reach into my purse and pull my phone out. I have a new message from Damon.

**From: Damon**

_Hey :) Want a ride tomorrow? I have no practice before school on Mondays this year._

I smile. I love driving to school with Damon.

**To: Damon**

_Sure :) See you tomorrow._

I reply and within a minute I get a reply back.

**From: Damon**

_Yeah. I love you baby, goodnight._

I giggle a little. It still seems odd to see him call me baby.

**To: Damon**

_I love you too. :D 3 Goodnight._

I reply before setting my phone on my night stand beside my alarm clock and turn over to get comfy. I'm so in love that nothing in my world makes me sad. I'm just always happy. I fall asleep with a huge smile on my face.

**AN: Sorry it's a little short. Wanted to have it as one huge chapter with the first day of school but I wanted to give you guys something tonight. PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews make me so happy :) Thank you who review last chapter. **


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